Sword Art Online: Chapter E(Eulogy)
by SvenTheRogueKnight
Summary: What if Eugeo and those from the Underworld(Alicization Arc) were alive and present during the SAO incident? We've seen it from Kirito's perspective, but what about his best friend? To where he was, to where he would never know. This is Eugeo's story. EugeoXAliceXKirito KiritoXAsuna Mild Alicization spoilers! Rated T for mentions of suicide in various chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first ever SAO fanfic; I thought it was about time I write something related to this anime. I've had the idea to write this for a while now. Ever since I finished reading the first few volumes of the Alicization arc, I thought about writing something related to its characters. Since I finished reading, I've always imagined how things would turn out had the characters from the Alicization arc been present in SAO. Surprisingly, my favorite character is Eugeo. Kirito is awesome and all, but I just find Eugeo's character to be a little more human. Kirito is OP as hell in the light novel/anime, so I thought writing about him wouldn't be too satisfying. Also, this story will contain a love triangle between Kirito, Eugeo and Alice. For those of you who haven't read the light novel yet, don't worry—there won't be any spoilers save for the characters' names. The love triangle was inspired by Quinella's words to Eugeo in the novel. I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to bring Asuna in terms of romance but I'll figure it out soon. Without further ado, I present my work! Enjoy reading!**

Impulses of overwhelming shock and unfathomable fear overtook the once-cheerful ambiance of the newly-constructed world Aincrad. As the gigantic red-hooded entity, who introduced himself as Kayaba Akihiko, vanished into nothingness, so did almost every trapped user's hope of logging out of Sword Art Online. The only way to get back to the real world and out of this virtual prison was to clear all one hundred floors of Aincrad—a task that would take years to accomplish. On top of that, death in-game equates to death in real life. For upon a user's in-game death, the NerveGear's transceivers which contain a powerful electromagnet will explode, causing cerebral hemorrhaging and arterial occlusion(or in other words, instant death). This being said, it is obvious that no revives are allowed in-game. Also, it appears that thousands of users have already been pronounced dead because of attempts to remove their NerveGear by others from the real world.

Many users simply collapsed on the floor. The gasps of horror that echoed all over Aincrad's first floor just moments ago were now replaced with sobs. Majority of the players(now nothing short of prisoners) were only looking for an outlet where they could experience gaming in a whole new level. Instead, they've gotten way more than they bargained for. They will indeed receive a gaming experience way beyond their imagination. However, they are not mere gamers in this world.

Tears littered the ground, to the point where it seemed like a storm just passed the landscape. For the dreams that'll most likely won't ever be fulfilled. For the apologies that'll most likely won't ever be heard. For the aspirations that'll most likely won't ever be achieved. For the smiles that'll most likely won't ever be seen again. For the time that could've been spent with loved ones or meeting new people that surely won't ever be theirs again.

An aura of depression, helplessness and quasi-insanity engulfed Aincrad. With the players staggered by abruptly being separated from everything they had—their homes, their loved ones—and plagued with a very real threat against their lives, they simply could not handle it. Most of them were just teenagers after all. They knew nothing of the real world. They were still within the jurisdiction of their parents. They asked for independence—something they know very little to nothing of. It appears their new lives in this world will change that.

While most of them grieved over their fates, one player seemed to do otherwise. As opposed to everyone who was standing in the arena-looking area where Kayaba Akihiko made his announcement, he was seated on a bench near the southern gates. Instead of feeling anything; even a tiny bit of emotion, he remained indifferent. Fear did not creep up his veins and threatened to consume him. His face remained as stoic as ever, as if he didn't hear the administrator's threatening message. So what if he would no longer be able to return to the real world as he pleased? So what if he was going to lose all that he had because of some dumb video game? So what if he was going to die in this virtual hell? He wasn't afraid of loss at all.

Not anymore, when he had already lost everything.

Or maybe, he never really had anything in the first place.

His dull, greenish-blue eyes stared blankly at the surface beneath him. The once vibrant orbs that were envied by everyone who caught a glimpse of them no longer held its captivating glimmer. A gush of wind swept over him, ruffling his flaxen-colored hair. A strand of his messy locks found itself dangling in front of his left eye. As he usually does, he simply left it there. Old habits die hard indeed. Or maybe it was because he was simply too lazy to even move a muscle.

Empty. Vain. Idle. Hollow.

These words epitomized this blond boy's entirety. If it weren't for the fact that he was still present in this virtual world and that his heart was still beating in the real world, it would be difficult to not mistake him for a corpse. Because of Kayaba Akihiko's 'present' for all users (which turned out to be a mirror), the boy's exact appearance from the real world was incorporated into this alternate universe. His half-lidded eyes remained glued to the rectangular patterns of the concrete floor. His scrawny shoulders were slumped; the boy's upper joints were so thin that the tips of his bones were already being outlined by the sleeves of his blue shirt. In fact, if one were to have an unfortunate collision with his bony shoulders, he/she will most likely sport a bruise or worse, even bleed out. His lips were set in a straight line, looking like they were glued together. His thick brows were rested in place, seemingly unable to be moved.

Overall, his appearance was enough to give a zombie run for its money in terms of who looks more…soulless.

What was going through his head was much worse(if that's even possible)—absolutely nothing. If he were a 'normal' human being, this inability to process a single thought could be attributed to the shock brought about by the knowledge that he was going to spend, at minimum, a couple of months trapped in an MMORPG game given the circumstances.

But he was not...is not…was never…'normal'.

Instead of finding himself under attack by a horde of fledgling emotions, he remained as he has been for the last few years. Over time, a large vacuum had made a home on the left portion of his chest. This menacing 'vacuum' contained a gravitational force so strong that he was unable to feel even just a twinge of emotion. The apparent black hole above his heart sucked in every sensation, every feeling known to man, reducing him to an empty shell waiting for its lifespan to reach its end. But that's how he was in the _real_ world…

To say the least, he didn't expect he would be under such a circumstance. Even in a different world, his emotionless persona was able to over his entire being. How did this happen? Where had he gone wrong? Was he really just going to let this soulless shell rule his body, his life? Where had the _old_ him gone? Was this going to be who he is until the day he dies? What happened? Where was the cheerful, loving-

Oh…that's right.

 _He_ was already dead. _He_ died on that fateful night all those years ago.

If that's the case…then why is he still here? Why is he still breathing? Why is he being caught up in a psychopath of a game developer's nefarious schemes? How did he even manage to find his pathetic self in this world? How? Why? WHY? His existence is an anomaly. He shouldn't be allowed to take another sniff of oxygen, whether in the real world or in this messed up digital world.

Living is a privilege. He had already lost the right to that privilege.

So why does he still have domain over this shell? Why hasn't his borrowed time as a human being lapsed yet? Why isn't he being made to return what isn't his? Why is he still…alive?

Why isn't he dead yet?

The question struck something within him. For the first time since logging in, he blinked. That's right. That's the reason why he bought his own NerveGear. That's the reason why he entered the virtual world of SAO. That's the reason why he skipped a company meeting to play a silly video game. That's the reason why he didn't know what to do in this place.

It's because he wanted to free himself from all the pain.

It was too risky to do so in the real world. One, it was going to be very painful; which contradicts his entire reason of why he wants to do it in the first place—to rid himself of pain. Two, it was going to create a huge mess. He didn't want his butler and his servants to spend days scrubbing the marble floors clean. And three, it was going to ruin his reputation.

At least in this world, no one would care. With the admin's announcement, death won't be such an uncommon occurrence here. He stood from his seat.

Humans were created with a sense of autonomy. While other people may influence one's decisions, it all comes down to him/her in the end. Because of this, the fact that every person has power over his/her own destiny is realized. One has the power to move, to live, to kill, to die, to feel, et cetera.

He was going to exert this power over himself. He had already made his decision.

He began to walk in short strides. He figured there was no reason to rush this. He kept his gaze forward, the lifeless look on his eyes not wavering. There didn't appear to be any suitable spots for him to do what he is about to. It's too risky. There were too many people around. While they may all be strangers, he wasn't going to take chances; there's a slight chance that one of them would interfere.

He allowed his feet to drag him to wherever it could. After a few minutes of walking, he stopped in front of a large, open gate. Before he could take a step further, a message box popped up.

' _You are about to enter Tolbana Fields'_

There were two buttons below the text; one blue that said 'confirm' and one red that said 'cancel'. The blond boy pressed the blue one and moved forward.

His surroundings completely changed. The once player-filled, town-esque and commercial landscape shifted to a grass-filled, fiend-infested and quiet one. Yes, this was the perfect place. No players in sight, a lot of monsters around; no one to stop him.

But how was he going to carry on though? He continued to walk forward while he tried to answer the question. He checked his inventory and saw that he had a small dagger equipped. He tapped on the item to summon it. The dagger materialized on his palm; it had a sharp edge and though its attributes were weak, it was enough. He still had the starting armor on, meaning he wasn't that resistant to physical attacks.

He held the dagger and his right wrist up. He flipped it so that the tip was pointed towards his wrist. Without hesitation, he sunk the sharp edge of the blade on his flesh. A sound went off then his health bar became visible on the upper left corner. From 100 points of health, it dropped to 92.

The discovery left a bittersweet taste on his mouth. On one hand, it was going to take him more than a few slashes to drain his health points to zero. On the other, it was painless. His wrist was wounded but he did not feel any sort of pain from the slash he gave himself. At the very least, this was going to be painless…just like how he desperately wished for it to be.

His train of thought was derailed by the sound of a howl. He turned his head to see a brown wolf glaring daggers at him. The creature's face was contorted angrily; it eyed the blond like a predator would to its prey. The wolf was hunched back, as if prepared to charge at him. It kept growling at him like some crazed animal. A warning suddenly flashed in front of the boy.

' _Alpha Wolf(Level 8)'_

The words flashed in red, indicating that it was a high level foe. He resisted the urge to smile. It appears he would have his work cut out for him. While doing it himself was a viable option, having this alpha wolf do it for him would be much faster. This wolf was seven levels higher than him. And because he didn't have any equipment on that would improve his combat sustainability, he was pretty much a walking candy bar.

He scrolled through his inventory and unequipped his dagger. Without an ounce of fear for his life, he faced the hungry wolf. Upon seeing this unexpected move from the boy, the wolf lost control and charged at him. It let out another growl, seemingly rejoicing for its hunger would be sated by this foolish boy.

The blond closed his eyes and prepared to meet his doom. This is where it ends. This is where the pain stops. This is where the nightmares disappear. This is where the unknown becomes known. This is where his dream comes true. He waited…and waited…for the blow that would free him.

But it never came.

Instead, he heard a soft wail and the sound of…a body landing on the ground? The boy opened his eyes to see the wolf, which a few moments ago prepared to lunge at him, lying on the ground, lifeless. He furrowed his eyebrows. What happened?

"What in the world do you think you're doing?" an irritated voice asked.

He shifted his gaze towards the owner of the voice. There stood a black-haired boy, a sword in hand and a displeased expression on his face. He appeared to be around his age, judging from his stature and appearance. He wore an outfit similar to his own; only this boy's top had a lighter shade of blue.

The blond blinked. How was he going to explain himself to this person? He remained quiet as he struggled to form an explanation.

The boy in front of him sighed before his look softened. "Be careful around fields like this next time, okay? There's no telling what's out here. It's best to be prepared all the time"

The raven-head's words were met with silence. The blond simply stared at him. What was he going to say?

"Well then, I'm off. Take better care of yourself next time. There'll come a time when no one will be around to help you but yourself" the black-haired boy advised in a cold, reserved tone. He shook his head and ran off in what probably was the direction of the closest town. When the blond boy was left alone, he remained glued to the spot.

What just happened? There weren't supposed to be any other players around here, especially since the administrator just made a life-changing announcement an hour ago. Weren't the other players supposed to still be paralyzed with shock?

So what's going to happen to him now? He could simply find another beast and let them do the trick, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do so. He felt lost. He thought he had everything planned out perfectly, but some random stranger just comes in and ruins everything. He should be angry. He should be frustrated at the boy who just saved him. Didn't he see that he was about to let himself be killed on purpose?

But somehow, he couldn't bring himself to feel irritated at the very least. In a way, he was given a second chance by that boy. Was that something he really wanted? Wasn't he settled on just ending his life just moments ago? So why was he hesitating to give it another try?

He shook his head. He wasn't going to get anywhere with all these questions. He needed to think, to plan his next move. He began to walk again, towards the direction of where the boy from earlier ran off to.

No one had ever bothered to care for him before. No one had ever bothered to approach him, much less even look at him. But that random stranger just helped him, saved him. Maybe...he sighed deeply before focusing on just walking. His emotions were all over the place right now. He was uncertain—something he's very uncomfortable with. He would find answers to his questions soon.

This is how Eugeo's story begins.

 **A/N: So how was it? I'm sorry if it was a bit long, but I really couldn't figure out a way on how to shorten it without sacrificing a little character development. So there it is; Eugeo's this depressed teenager who goes to SAO to…end his life. If you find it confusing, especially the last part, don't worry. More will be explained in the next chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed! I will update depending on if you guys liked this. The more you like it, the faster I'll update. See you in the next chap!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Fated Meeting?

**Review Responses:**

 **gemmysaur: Hello! Thank you for your feedback!** **As for Eugeo, yes, I had to make him different from canon Eugeo to begin the story. Don't worry though, as the story progresses, he'll be much more similar to canon Eugeo. Thank you so much for your kind words!**

 **A/N: Hi everyone! It's been more than a week,and I found some time to write again! Thank you for the views and follows (thank you to gemmysaur and VolticRay for following this story! I really appreciate it!), you guys rock! I hope I was able to give you guys a bit of a background on Eugeo's situation last chapter. I'm terribly sorry if it was long, this chap's going to be pretty long too. I just couldn't find a way to shorten it without changing the essence of this chapter. The first part of this chap is still about Eugeo contemplating his life, but the second part…has some EugeoXAlice in it, albeit very little. I hope you guys enjoy reading and let me know what you think, comments, suggestions, flames, whatever. Happy reading!**

It was already nightfall by the time the blond boy arrived at the quaint settlement of Tolbana. Once he crossed the town border, he glanced around his surroundings. From the looks of it, many people were already in town. They must've rushed to the next town as soon as the administrator made his announcement, just like what the black-haired boy who apparently helped him hours ago did.

For some reason, since that boy interrupted his little ritual, he did not encounter another monster—not even one. After the raven-head ran off, he wandered around the Tolbana Fields for hours. He just didn't feel any reason to rush to the next town himself. It almost felt like the fiends along the grasslands avoided him. The irrational part of him cursed the fates. It's as if they were teasing him, mocking him—giving him the ability to think about ending his own life but not giving him anything that would help him to do so. Like he was given a pair of scissors, but the blades were unable to cut through anything. The rational part of him however, thought that maybe it was because of that same boy who ran into him. Maybe it's because he was such in a rush to get to the next town that he slayed every fiend he encountered. If not, then those who came after him might have taken care of the other monsters that remained. Even so, he was so befuddled that he just shook his head and made his way to Tolbana, which explains why he found himself here this very moment.

His first thought was to find a place to stay at for the night. Since he couldn't really think clearly at the moment, he figured it would be best to get some rest for now. He kept walking around town until he found an inn near the central plaza. Using the small amount of money he started out with, he rented a room for the evening.

When he got upstairs and entered his room, he looked around. There was a single bed near the wall and some furniture across it. He shrugged his shoulders—he didn't really mind staying in such a small place; his only purpose for staying here was to get some sleep after all, not lounge to his heart's content. After transferring some of his clothes in his inventory, he plopped down the small bed. With a deep sigh, he turned his gaze to the ceiling.

So what was going to happen to him now? He attempted to finally end it all…only to be disrupted by a seemingly kind-hearted stranger. What did that mean? Was there a reason as to why of all people, it had to be him whom the stranger ran into? Was there some kind of cosmic force out there that didn't want him to die yet? Was this a sign that he shouldn't just give up on life so soon?

He grunted and buried his face on his pillow. The boy's eyelids suddenly felt a tad bit heavier. He relented to sleep's seductive call, deciding to save his thoughts for tomorrow. With enough rest, he'll surely be able to come up with some clear, coherent thoughts on what to do next.

When he woke up the next day, it was already well into the morning. Judging from the light rays penetrating the windows of his room, it was almost noon. He rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. After preparing himself, he headed outside.

The first idea that came into his head was to go a place where he would be able to think peacefully. In an instant, returning to the Tolbana Fields sounded like a good idea. With that in mind, he walked his way to the fields outside of town.

When he reached the edge of the fields, he saw a large tree not too far from his current position. It provided enough shade from the sun and was thick enough for him to lean on without possibly falling. He walked the tree and sat down beside it. He leaned back against the tree and rested his arms on his knees.

He spent the next hour just thinking. Did he really want to sleep forever? Sure, when he first got here, he planned to come up with ideas on how to end his life. It would have been too risky to entertain such morbid thoughts under the watchful eyes of his house helpers. He needed to be alone in a place where his butler and maids won't bug him to death. So he figured going on a virtual world with a stupid excuse along the lines of trying out a new video game was a good idea. As he began to think, that red-cloaked administrator announced that death in game would equate to death in real life, much to his pleasure.

He thought fate was simply begging for him to kill himself. He was practically given everything he could ask for—a place, a _world_ where he wouldn't be bothered by anyone and the power to take his own life without feeling even a tiny bit of pain. And given his willingness to do something, anything, that would end his pathetic life, he jumped at the chance.

He could have just kept slashing himself with his dagger, so why didn't he? Why had he hesitated? Oh that's right, he thought the beast he encountered would do it quicker for him. But didn't he admit that he wasn't in any rush at all? So why did he wait for that wolf to claw him to death? Why didn't he kept draining his health points while waiting for the wolf to attack him to get his desired result even faster? And why was it that even when that black-haired boy who 'saved' him left, he didn't compose himself and simply go back to killing himself slowly? Why did he wander around the fields searching for other monsters when he could have done the deed himself? Why did he waste his night by sleeping and not plan his next move or how to kill himself?

The blond drowned on these questions for the next hour. Simply put, he was an emotional mess at the moment. The boy's display of cognitive dissonance almost led him to bang his head against the tree his was leaning on. He kept asking himself why he didn't keep trying to die when he had so many chances. Seriously, all he had to do was pull his dagger out and slash himself repeatedly.

But then he began to remember think like a normal person. Yesterday, before he even logged on SAO, he had already been having one of the worst days of his life. Sure, he has a horrible day every day, but yesterday was just on an entirely different level of horrible. He received reports regarding a thirty percent decrease in value of his company's stocks, leading to some shareholders and investors to cut ties with him. The investigators he hired confirmed that his company's factory in New England was sold by one of his officials without permission and managed to keep all the proceeds of the transaction. His aunt, one of his closest relatives, had died of a heart disease. And lastly, he was informed that he was to meet his fiancée in a few days…basically about to be forced to spend the rest of his life with a woman who probably despised him and knows nothing about him. **(A/N: Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji hints** **)**

All of these problems just piled up on one another and he felt like he just wanted to get away from it all. So now that he has the power to decide, what's he going to do?

He shook his head and stood up. All this thinking was getting him nowhere. He began to wander around the fields like he did yesterday. Who knows? Maybe the next time he encounters a monster, he'll be able to decide whether he should fight and continue living or just surrender to his death.

His thoughts were derailed when he heard a loud growl accompanied by the sound of a sword whooshing. He looked around frantically, trying to search for the source of the noise. When his gaze snapped to his far left, he found it.

There were around five wolves, similar to the one that almost killed him yesterday, surrounding a figure with long blonde hair. Said figure held a sword on her (the person was probably a girl) right hand while her body was contorted in a defensive stance. The wolves circled her and eyed her like a piece of meat, but she stood her ground.

In the blink of an eye, the blonde charged one of the wolves. She dove, raised her sword and swung diagonally. The poor wolf, not suspecting the blow, staggered backwards and let out a cry. The other four wolves charged at the blonde at once, seeking to avenge their wounded fellow.

The blonde swung her sword to the right horizontally, blocking the claws of two wolves. While doing so, she managed to duck almost effortlessly to evade the other two wolves on her left. When she landed on her feet, she chained two slashes, both which were diagonal ones, forming the letter X to eliminate the wolf in front of her. The remaining wolves tried to attack her again, but she either parried their attacks or evaded them every time.

The boy stood in the distance, marveling at the sight. The blonde girl looked so gracious, so elegant, reminding him of a swan. It's as if she was dancing; the only difference being she has a sword in hand and trying to avoid her death. She looked so flawless in fighting off the rabid wolves. No matter how hard the wolves tried, they couldn't even scratch her. The boy honestly never thought he'd be awestruck at the sight of a girl performing sword arts.

The blonde managed to kill off three of the five wolves in no time. However, to her far right, there were three more wolves rushing towards her. The boy watching her from afar saw the trio making their way to her. At first, he remained calm; that girl looked so skilled that she'll probably be able to fight them off by herself. She most likely doesn't need help at all.

But as the trio approached, a warning popped up in front of him. His sensors were able to examine the status of the three approaching wolves. Written in red text was,

' _Bloodhound(Level 22)'_

' _HP:1750/1750'_

' _Status: Berserk'_

The boy didn't fully understand the warning, but from what he could see, those wolves weren't like the ones the girl was fighting. These wolves were high-level creatures, and their berserk status probably means they're thirsty for blood. As they approached, he got a good look at their appearance. They looked bigger than the usual wolves, their eyes were glowing red and their frames were glowing red. He glanced back at the blonde; she was still busy fighting. She wouldn't be able to see the bloodhounds coming. Or if she does, she won't be able to defend against them in time. She was on the verge of eliminating the last wolf, but the bloodhounds were a mere few meters away.

Before he could think, he summoned his dagger and ran towards the blonde. When the last wolf was defeated, one of the bloodhounds leapt in the air, prepared to pounce on its prey. When the blonde shifted her gaze, the bloodhound's claws were an inch away from her face. But the beast never made contact with her. Instead of scratching her, the hound's claws collided with a dagger.

She gasped. Slowly, she brought her eyes to the owner of the dagger. She saw a blond boy gritting his teeth, struggling to hold his stance. At the sight, she snapped out of her daze and prepared to help the boy. For a split second, the boy's gaze met with hers. Sea blue met bluish-green. Unspoken words passed between them then with slight nods, the pair went to work.

The boy forcefully swung his dagger upwards, staggering the bloodhound. While the bloodhound was forced backwards, it was left defenseless. It was the blonde's turn; she chained a series of moves: a left-to-right horizontal slash, a diagonal slash and a downward slash using two hands. The bloodhound whimpered, its HP being reduced to less than half. Before it could recover, the blonde girl chained another three-hit combo to eliminate the enemy hound.

Behind her, the blond boy was trying to hold off the other two bloodhounds with his dagger. He made sure that his battle partner wouldn't get backstabbed while she dealt with one of them. Fortunately for him, the two bloodhounds he was trying to fend off did not attack him simultaneously. Both took turns at clawing him, which he either dodged or blocked with his dagger.

When the two hounds decided to attack him at the same time, he ducked forward and managed to slip through the space between the hounds. Seeing that her companion needed help, the blonde girl switched places with him and executed another chain of sword skills on one of the hounds. Amidst her combo, the other bloodhound tried to attack her, but was halted by the boy, who batted the creature's claws away with his weapon.

The two continued to work together; the girl chaining sword skills and slashes to deal damage to the bloodhounds and the boy parrying and blocking to make sure that neither he nor the girl get a single scratch. They switched positions at the right moments, they swung their weapons at the right times and they took advantage of the right opportunities. The blond/e pair worked together in perfect symmetry. It looked like poetry in motion; a defender and an aggressive swordsman synergizing perfectly.

After a few more minutes of working together, the pair managed to defeat their foes. The boy let out a deep sigh. It was a good thing he learned how to fence years ago otherwise he would've had no idea on how to wield a weapon.

A moment of silence passed, both teens composing themselves. When they looked up, their gazes met once again. Both froze, seemingly unable to think of what to say to the other. As fortune would have it, it was the girl who spoke first.

"Thanks for helping me back there. I would've been in some serious trouble if you didn't show up" the girl thanked with a slight bow.

"Uh…er…n-no problem…" the boy replied, raising his arm to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. ( **A/N: Eugeo sucks with girls in this story…hehe)** In all honesty, he wasn't very good at dealing with people, especially girls. There was a reason he was home-schooled for his entire life after all. Besides, the only reason why he helped this girl was because he didn't want another person to die on his watch.

Sure, he would be fine with him dying, but not the people around him.

The girl's lips broke into a bright smile. Her eyes danced with light mirth while she looked like she was holding back a giggle. Did she sense the boy's discomfort? She probably did. She held a gloved hand out and introduced herself.

"I'm Alice. What's your name?" she remarked softly.

The boy's cheeks flushed, causing Alice to giggle. The boy didn't know how to reply, but in all honesty, he was taken aback by the girl's sudden behavior. A minute ago he could've sworn she was this fierce swordsman. Now…she looked…normal. He really sucks at this socializing thing.

In the end though, he answered her. He probably won't be hanging around her for long anyways, so it shouldn't be a problem.

"M-my name is Eugeo" he replied and shook her hand firmly. He felt a slight jolt of electricity shoot through his veins. Her skin was so soft…so smooth. He expected to shake a calloused hand, not a really _really_ soft one. Then again, this was a virtual world. Maybe your body doesn't adapt to certain changes.

Alice giggled louder, using the back of her other hand to cover her lips. She grinned brightly, making the poor boy in front of her even more embarrassed.

"As a token of my appreciation, why don't we have lunch together? That fighting really made me hungry; I'm sure you're pretty hungry yourself" Alice proposed as she tilted her head a little to the side.

Before Eugeo could open his mouth to politely decline her offer, she took his hand(the one he used to shake her own hand) and dragged him back towards the direction of Tolbana. She glanced behind her and saw Eugeo's shocked expression; his bluish-green eyes were wide open and his mouth was slightly agape. Alice giggled…again. The blond boy looked so cute.

Well, it appears he was wrong.

Maybe _was_ going to hang around with this girl for some time.

All thoughts of ending his own life from earlier were now replaced of how to deal with his blonde companion at the moment.

 **A/N: And there's chapter 2! So Alice is in the picture...and regarding the Black Butler hints, there's a reason why I put that there(obviously). Let's just say who Eugeo is in the real world is kind of related to who Ciel Phantomhive is, I'll leave it at that hehe. I'll explain more about this in the latter part of this story. As for the chap as a whole, how was it? Please let me know what you guys think; you readers are a big reason as to why I write these stories. I'm sorry if Eugeo's character development was a little quick here? Like he's suicidal then gets all shy with Alice. I just wanted to illustrate that no matter what, Eugeo's kind of a dimwit around girls…hehe. Hope you guys enjoyed and see you on the next chap! Have a good day!**


	3. Chapter 3: Awkward Encounters

**A/N: Hello everyone! I'm sorry for the pretty late update; I had my midterms last week and had a lot of projects to finish outside of school. I won't have school until Monday so I have a lot of free time this week. A few words; there'll be some light AliceXEugeo fluff in this chapter. Also, I apologize if the story has been boring so far because of Eugeo's suicidal thoughts and the fact that there are so many questions. The reason behind this endless stream of interrogatives is because I want to portray Eugeo as a character who overthinks…A LOT. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! Thank you to users Harvzy and Vuurvlieg for following this story! And as always, thank you to awesome gemmysaur for reviewing! You guys keep me going! Please continue to let me know what you guys think about the story. I'll be happy to answer your questions and address your concerns. On with the story then, happy reading!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **gemmysaur: Thank you for the review! I'll be sure to not forget about Eugeo's suicidal behavior. It's something I'm planning to keep for the entire story. Rest assured, I won't just let it fade into nothing because he met Alice. You're absolutely right, actually. As you'll see in this chapter (mild spoilers LOL), Eugeo won't really have the opportunity to think properly. I appreciate your comments so much! Please keep up the support, you rock!**

Eugeo was absolutely flabbergasted. He could've sworn that he was contemplating suicide while asking himself a myriad of existentialist questions just a few hours ago. As a matter of fact it was his tendency to overthink that coaxed him into dragging himself all the way out to the outer fields of Tolbana. His plan was to reflect on his current situation, to decide on which course of action to take in order to move forward with his life. He was to think, plan and finally choose whether this life was still worth living or not. That was the plan.

That was the plan.

So what the hell was he doing sitting across a blonde girl he had just met, waiting for his meal while drinking tea and relaxing inside a very comfy and stylish restaurant? Why was he mildly trembling in awkwardness? What happened to all his emo-kid thoughts about killing himself? Why did he chicken out again all of the sudden?

The boy shook his head in an attempt to compose himself. He shouldn't really be entertaining such thoughts right now. Doing so would be rude since he was in the company of another person. Speaking of company…he glanced at the blonde on the other side of the table. She was sipping her tea with her eyes closed, one hand cupping the side of her cup while the other holding the bottom.

Eugeo sighed. How's he going to get himself out of this situation? He didn't really _have_ to go with this girl to eat lunch. He could've politely turned down her offer and went on with his day. Or he could've told her that he had more important matters to attend to than stuffing his stomach. Eating was the least of his concerns at the moment. He was facing a life and death situation—literally. The matter concerned his very existence and required his full attention.

But nooo, he allowed himself to get dragged all the way to the nearest restaurant in town. He clenched his fists under the table. He has to do something. This Alice was very kind; he appreciated that. He doesn't mean to be rude but he should really get going. He nodded to himself.

With determination, he looked the blonde girl in the eye. He exhaled. He opened his mouth a little to speak…or rather murmur. This was it. He was about to tell off the first person to spend more than a few minutes with him in this virtual hell.

However, before he could utter a syllable, Alice realized that he had been looking at her. She directed her gaze to meet his own. A minute of silence passed. There was absolutely no sound at all; even their breathing was silent. Cerulean clashed with greenish-blue. If one were to gaze at the pair from afar, he/she would think that so many unspoken words were being exchanged through their gazes.

Their little staring contest was interrupted when Alice shot her companion with a small smile. She tilted her head to the side and stared at him questioningly. Eugeo felt his cheeks warm a bit at the sight. He clenched his fists harder. It's just a stupid little smile, what the hell was he feeling all warm about? In slight panic, he shook his head at her. It seems he would have to wait until later to speak his mind out.

"So Eugeo, what were you doing out on the fields by yourself?" Alice asked in her soft, melodious voice. She leaned forward a bit and rested her arms on the table behind her cup of tea. The small smile on her lips remained as well.

Eugeo froze. This was another opportunity to get this girl to leave him alone. If he told her the **real** reason why he went to the fields, it would surely scare the hell out of her. Then she'll probably think he's insane and would not want to be associated with him in any way, form or fashion—which will probably drive her to leave and never see him again. So maybe he should tell her the truth…that he's contemplating suicide…

But then again, that might not be such a good idea. Sure, he didn't care what her impression of him would be when she finds out he's suicidal, but he didn't want to traumatize her or anything. He didn't want to involve anyone else when he ponders over killing himself. It's a secret he'll keep to his grave. That's why he left the real world and entered SAO—to gather his thoughts, to make sure no one else knows about them. Telling this girl would defeat the purpose of his stay in this world.

He wasn't an avid gamer at all but fortunately, he knew a couple of things about MMORPGs, so he gave her a rather generic answer.

"I was just trying to level up. I went by myself to get more experience" he muttered in reply.

His lie seemed to have deceived Alice, for the girl just nodded in acknowledgement. "Makes sense, but how come you're still using your starting dagger? It'd be a lot easier for you to level up faster with better equipment"

"T-this is actually my first time playing an MMORPG, so…" he murmured.

Alice's eyes widened "Oh, I see…" she trailed. She looked apologetically at him "Sorry that your first experience turned out to be a nightmare…" she added.

"I don't think anyone suspected that this game was a virtual prison. No need to apologize" Eugeo responded coldly. It wasn't his fault he sounded so indifferent. It's been a couple of years since the last time he held a conversation with anyone who wasn't a house-helper in his mansion.

Alice just hummed in response. Another moment of silence passed. Suddenly, Alice's blue eyes lit up as she gazed at him.

"How about I show you around town after eating? I'll help you with upgrading your equipment, purchasing items and basically anything that'll increase your combat effectiveness. It's the least I can do for you since you saved me against those hounds" the blonde proposed.

Eugeo opened his mouth to protest. He didn't even get to make a sound—Alice was already glaring at him with one of her eyebrows raised like she was daring him to say no and would kick his ass if he does so. The sight was enough to coax him into nodding his head repeatedly. This Alice can be scary when she wants to. When he nodded, Alice's glare disappeared and the small smile on her face returned.

The two continued to talk about SAO with Alice doing most of the talking. Minutes later, their food arrived. The pair ate in silence. Eugeo would occasionally take deep sighs while eating. He was wasting time. He should be planning right now. Hopefully by the end of the day, Alice would've already left him alone. When they finished eating, they had a little debate on who was going to pay. After some discussion, both split the 'bill'.

"You didn't have to pay, you know" Alice said as she and Eugeo exited the restaurant. " _I_ was the one who invited you to lunch after all"

Eugeo shook his head "I appreciate the gesture, but I'd rather pay my share"

"If you say so" Alice shrugged her shoulders. She looked around, searching for a particular establishment. When her eyes landed on said establishment, her eyes lit up "Oh, there's the armory over there. Come on, let's get you sword" she urged and led the way to the large brown shop near the center of the town. Eugeo followed, rather grudgingly.

Upon entering the shop, Eugeo stood beside Alice and looked around. From the looks of it, there weren't really a lot of weapons available. Most of the weapons on display were swords of different lengths and sizes. Although there were a few different types of daggers inside a glass case to his left, everything was just swords, swords and more swords. Despite this, the blond thought that the place looked pretty cool. It reminded him of the time when he went out with his parents to buy his first fencing saber. He smiled, nostalgia beginning to creep up on him. Those were the days he so desperately wished to go back to.

As he observed his surroundings, Alice walked forward to the NPC behind the counter on the far end of the shop. She turned around and saw Eugeo eying the weapons around the shop like a kid. He reminded her of a child visiting a candy store for the first time. She giggled silently.

"Eugeo, over here" Alice called out with a wave.

Eugeo snapped out of his trance and walked towards her. When he stopped in front of her, she stepped aside and gestured to the NPC manning the shop. It had the appearance of a smiling old man. When Eugeo walked up to the counter, a message box popped up. He pressed "confirm" and was presented with a list of swords.

"There are a lot of swords to choose from. Players usually go for the ones that suit their attributes and their personal preferences. If you want to get a preview of the sword, you can tap on it and it'll materialize" Alice instructed.

Eugeo mentally sighed. Why does he have to go through all this? He's not even going to live long enough to give a damn about his equipment. But he had to play along…so he did. After deciding, he tapped on a sword and the blade was summoned in front of him. He held both hands out to catch the sword. When he gripped at the hilt and held it up, he suddenly lost his grip. His eyes widened. He lost his balance and fell to the floor with a loud thud.

He groaned. How knew that the damned thing would be so heavy? He used both his hands to prop himself up. He felt odd; he expected the floor to be harder than it felt. The ground beneath him felt rather…soft? Then he heard another groan…under him? And when did the floor smell so good? Last time he checked, the floor didn't smell faintly of roses. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted with a sight that made his heartbeat accelerate.

Alice lay beneath him, her face twisted into an expression of pain and discomfort. She opened her eyes and gasped. Eugeo was lying on top of her, their noses almost bumping and their lips an inch away from connecting. Alice felt her blond companion's warm breath fanning her skin, sending an uncharacteristic shiver down her spine. Their gazes remained connected as both began to blush.

Eugeo let out a girlish eek and stammered to his feet. He shook his head repeatedly, trying to get the strange images imprinted in his mind. He held a hand to chest, trying to soothe his heartbeat. After exhaling deeply for a few times, he turned to Alice who was still blushing. He bowed his head in shame.

"I'm sorry! I didn't think that sword would be heavy…" he explained.

"It's a-alright…" Alice stuttered "this is your first time playing after all" she coughed before looking at him seriously. "Check your character status. You should've earned enough skill points from our encounter with the bloodhounds to increase some of your attributes"

Eugeo did what he was told and opened the command box. He scrolled down until he found his attributes and tapped on it. True enough, he had some "unused skill points" and his attributes were still on the lowest settings.

"As I mentioned before, you should pick a sword that corresponds to your attributes. For some swords, you need to have a certain attribute at a particular rating to be able to wield them. You couldn't grip the sword you picked probably because your attributes weren't high enough" Alice spoke as she fought her blush down.

Eugeo only nodded, trying to avoid facing her. "So which attribute should I increase?"

"It depends on you. There are three main attributes to look at when it comes to weapon compatibility—Pow(power), Int(intelligence) and Dex(dexterity). Pow types usually deal massive amount of damage to their enemies. Int types have great attack speed and are able to chain multiple skills with ease. Dex types are more like supports; they're good at cancelling enemy skills, parrying and initiating. I personally went with Int, but take your own pick"

Eugeo shrugged and picked a random attribute. He wasn't going to be here long…so it won't matter. He went with Dex and spent all of his skill points on it. After spending allof his SP, he picked another sword from the shop's list. This time, when the sword materialized, he made sure to have a better grip on it to avoid…another accident. Alice noticed this and her faint blush returned.

The sword was like any other—silver blade, brown hilt, long but thicker than usual. He tried swinging it around; he was able to do so with ease. He confirmed his purchase, paid for his weapon and equipped it. After storing his dagger in his inventory, he eyed his new sword. This should make his job easier…

"Now that's done, let's get you some items…" Alice announced, dragging him outside.

The pair spent the next hour going around town. Alice pretty much dragged him around and taught him the basics on how to become a better fighter. She gave him advice on his items, his inventory, et cetera. Eugeo just kept nodding every time she spoke, not really paying full attention to what she was saying.

When the afternoon came, the two were walking around to find a place to rest at. They walked side by side, with Eugeo staring at the concrete below him and Alice reading something on her message box.

"Hm…a meeting about beating the floor boss, eh? Didn't know there was going to be a boss raid so soon…" Alice mumbled to herself. She turned to Eugeo, "Why don't we participate? It's just near the edge of town" she asked. Eugeo was seemed to be occupied with his thoughts, so Alice tapped his shoulder to catch his attention.

"Y-yes?" Eugeo inquired.

"Why don't we attend the meeting?" Alice repeated.

"What meeting?" Eugeo asked again, his forehead creasing.

Alice rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm. Then she began to drag him away…again. Eugeo tried to free his arm from the blonde's grip, but another glare from her made him flinch and relent. He can't wait for this day to end…

Eventually, they reached some kind of circular, coliseum-looking area. There was a blue-clad person on the center talking animatedly and on the steps surrounding him, people were sitting and listening to him. Alice sat both of them down at the outermost part of the circular steps. She then began to listen to the person talking on the center, while he drowned in his thoughts again.

Eugeo remained silent the whole time. Now that he has a sword, it'll be much easier to drain his health points. He'll be able to kill himself faster, in other words. So should he go on with it? Should he just end it? Was there really nothing left for him to live for? He kept thinking, asking himself questions.

For some reason, today's events replayed in his mind. Sure, this Alice was bossy, but it was nice to spend time with another human being who didn't treat him kindly because of his status. Today was a day that turned out to be better than he had originally thought when he first woke up. He thought he was going to die today but he ended up meeting another person.

But still…what was he going to do now? End his suffering? He should. He definitely should. But also-

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone shaking his arm. He glanced up and saw Alice looking at him. There was a hint of worry in her cerulean orbs and a frown on her lips. She turned to her other side and gestured to him.

"And this is Eugeo, he's a friend of mine"

Eugeo was taken aback. He was her… _friend_? He didn't expect that at all. He shook himself. Who was Alice talking to in the first place? He looked at the person on Alice's other side.

It was a boy…with black hair and black eyes. He was wearing the same outfit as Eugeo…he looked very familiar. When it registered, Eugeo's eyes widened a little. This was the person who saved him yesterday.

The boy seemed to have recognized him too, for his eyes were wide as well. He shook it off and nodded at him in acknowledgement.

"I'm Kirito, and she's…" the black-haired boy trailed as he gestured to someone beside him. Said person was wearing a cloak, concealing her/his face. But from the looks of it, the person is most likely a girl.

"Asuna" the cloaked figure mumbled.

Alice offered them a kind smile "Nice to meet you two. Let's party up!" Kirito hummed in agreement.

Party invitations were sent. Eugeo wanted nothing to do with whatever was happening, but didn't really have a choice because Alice glared at him when his finger hovered over the "reject" button. He didn't even know what was going on, he decided to just play along…

"Beating the floor boss shouldn't be too difficult" Kirito commented.

"Yep! At least it wasn't during the beta" Alice added.

Floor boss? Beta? What were they talking about? Weren't they just going to head out somewhere again?

"Uh…what are we talking about again?" Eugeo asked with a dumbfounded expression.

Alice turned to him, looking at him weirdly "What else? We're clearing the floor"

 **A/N: So there you have it. I apologize for the failure of the fluff content. I honestly had no idea how to make the situation lighter since Eugeo's having recurring suicidal thoughts and all. Plus, I just flat-out suck when it comes to writing fluff. I also apologize if my introduction of Kirito and Asuna were a little quick. Another thing I noticed about the original SAO was the lack of emphasis on character attributes. I incorporated RAN Online's aspect of Pow/Dex/Int here to cover for that. Eugeo's attribute should also hint what kind of player he's going to be. The next chapter will be the boss fight, where Kirito, of course, goes absolutely HAM. But yeah, I have a few plans on how to change a few aspects about the boss fight since Alice and Eugeo will be present. I hope you guys enjoyed and please let me know your thoughts, comments, et cetera by either reviewing or sending me a PM. Have a nice day and thank you for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4: Clearing the 1st Floor

**A/N: Hello everyone, I'm back with an update! It's been a few months since I've updated this thing and I deeply apologize for that. School's definitely been a bitch; we only had a two-week summer break which I spent with friends and family out of town, hence I wasn't able to update. I've been getting a few questions regarding the attributes I mentioned in the previous chapter. Let me make it clear for those of you who got confused; Pow, Dex and Int are NOT the ONLY attributes that I will be using. Others like strength, vitality, et cetera also exist; I emphasized Pow, Dex and Int as the main attributes players have to choose from when it comes to choosing their weapons/types of swords. If I didn't make that clear, I apologize. But if you still have any questions about anything I've written so far, I will address all of them either via review response or PM. Also, I have to admit, it's been a while since I've written anything, so forgive me if I mess this chapter up. I'll do my best to make everything clear and like I said, I'll answer all of your questions as much as I can.**

 **Thank you to users bberr88, DaManWOFear, Asachio, Why did Sif have to die, StrawberryTiger-Lily, NET and jason199911 for following this story, users Guillotine3, Asachio and NET for adding this story to their favorites list and for users NET, Why did Sif have to die, dhyetaX1999 and the awesome gemmysaur for reviewing! Thank you so much you guys, you certainly make it much more difficult to not update faster. Please keep up the support and keep being awesome!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **NET: Thank you! I'm glad that I was able to catch your interest with this story. I dunno, I just thought that since Kirito already has the spotlight in the anime, another male character should get his own fanfic at the very least LOL. Thank you for your review and for your positive comments!**

 **Why did Sif have to die: You're actually one of the few people who like the concept of the suicidal Eugeo. And yes, I think I have an idea as to what you're talking about with regards to the 'heavy' stuff. Based on the light novels, I do agree on that. However, I probably won't be giving Eugeo the same exact attributes as Kirito because that would basically make Eugeo a Kirito-clone. Plus, Kirito is a dual wielder and I already have plans on how to incorporate that in this story, thus Eugeo won't really have the same build as him. Thank you for the review and the kind words!**

 **dhyetaX1999: I've already responded to your review via PM! Thank you for your feedback!**

 **gemmysaur: I've already responded to your review as well! Thank you for being so understanding and supportive!**

 **Without further ado, chapter 4! Enjoy reading and please keep up the support!**

"We're what?" Eugeo asked, clearly clueless. He was getting bombarded with so much unnecessary information about Sword Art Online. If he kept this up, there's a high probability that he'll be an MMORPG genius. Seriously, the last time he got fed with this much information was when he was reviewing for his entrance exams.

"We're going to clear the floor" Alice reiterated. When she realized why Eugeo seemed dumbfounded, before her forehead creased in worry "Oh, that's right. You're new to the game" she mumbled to herself.

Uh…has it not been apparent that he indeed is?

Eugeo resisted the urge to simply walk away from these people. He had no business here. The only thing stopping him from getting up on his feet was Alice. She's the first person to treat him like a fellow human being in a pretty long time. Given his suicidal behavior lately, that meant a lot to him. Aside from that, it would be downright rude to just waltz out of her presence without a word or a thank you for her time.

Well he could do just that now if he really wanted to…

"We're going to discuss how to beat the floor boss to unlock the next floor. The sooner we unlock floors, the sooner we'll get to the 100th one and hopefully out of this game"

Eugeo was still mildly confused. So that was the point of this game, to clear a hundred floors? That didn't make much sense at all. But then again, maybe it shouldn't in this case. Clearly, he wasn't listening when that red-cloaked administrator made his announcements to all SAO players, explaining why he isn't aware of how to return to the real world.

After all, it's not like he wanted to go back anyways.

Just then, the blond noticed another set of eyes staring at his direction. He turned his head a bit and saw a familiar looking boy—Kirito was his name, if he remembered correctly. The raven-head was looking at him again, but this time with half-lidded eyes. There was a mix of confusion and wonder on the boy's face, as if he was trying to make sure that Eugeo was indeed the blond boy he saved from before.

Eugeo's eyes widened slightly as the events of his initial meeting with Kirito replayed in his head. He slowly dragged his gaze further to the right until he was facing the black-haired boy fully. When their eyes met, Kirito's black irises shone in recognition for a split second. In an instant, his gaze turned somewhat cold and he broke his gaze with Eugeo, turning his attention back to the person speaking in front. Eugeo shrugged his shoulders and did the same. He wasn't going anywhere, so he might as well listen.

The blond's efforts were in vain. He was barely able to understand a thing everyone was talking about. Not only was he unfamiliar with certain phrases that members of the gaming community probably used often but he also didn't see the point in having an actual meeting about a boss fight. Throughout the 'meeting' some members of the audience would sometimes ask the speaker questions and he would respond smoothly. Eugeo would occasionally glance at the three other players beside him—Alice, Kirito and Asuna (who still hasn't spoken a word yet since introducing herself) to find all of them either nodding or thinking amongst themselves. Again, Eugeo fought down the urge to just leave Alice alone with all these people she appeared to fit in with.

In the middle of the supposed meeting, a player stood up and shouted a few complaints of his. Said player stomped all the way down to where the blue-haired speaker was standing and began preaching something to the crowd about 'beta testers'. After spewing his rant, another player, much larger in frame, made his way down to the platform and stood in front of him. The other player then proceeded to explain how 'beta testers' should not be discriminated because they provided/were providing help for new players by giving information about different aspects of SAO via guide books.

During the little exchange, while Eugeo continued to struggle to make sense of what he was hearing, Alice and Kirito were both in deep thought. Alice involuntarily shifted her gaze to the side and saw a pair of jet-black eyes staring back at her. The blonde girl blushed…or at least she felt like she did. She hasn't felt any sort of warmth on her cheeks for days…it was kind of nice. She inwardly shook herself awake.

This was definitely not the time to act like some lovesick teenager.

Alice continued to gaze at the black-haired boy's gorgeous eyes. Then it hit her; she realized that he was trying to communicate something to her. It was the way the boy's eyes shone. Was that fear in his eyes? Or maybe it was some sort of a plea? Perhaps it was because the topic of beta testers was brought up by the player down on the platform. At this, Alice's eyes widened in realization.

This boy was also a beta tester.

Alice gave a small nod and through her ocean blue eyes she told him that he didn't have anything to worry about. For one, she herself was a beta tester; that should've been obvious from her comment earlier about the floor boss being an easy opponent in the beta. Also, the new players will get used to being around beta testers in due time.

She managed to communicate all these points through her gaze. The black-haired boy returned the small nod with one of his own and appeared to sigh in relief. Alice shot him an amused grin, basically using her smile to tell him that she can't believe he get worried over something so simple. The boy pouted a little in response, probably communicating that he was just making sure of everything, to which Alice giggled quietly in return before turning her attention back to the speaker on the platform.

"That settles it then! Let's meet up in two hours at the tower entrance. We'll clear the floor and get out of this game in no time!" the blue-haired speaker exclaimed, earning the cheers of the people around him.

When the majority of the players began going their separate ways, the four players sitting beside each other huddled up.

"To start, I guess it's best to go over our playstyles so that we would get an idea of how to fight around one another when we face the boss. We're splitting up into parties for a reason after all" Alice reasoned. Kirito and his companion, Asuna, nodded. Eugeo was just left with no choice.

"I'm a pow type. I can either land the first hit to open things up for other party members or be the primary hitter" Kirito stated.

"I'm an int type. I'll do whatever is required of me" Asuna followed, albeit sounding a little too formal.

"I'm also an int type. For the record, I'm a beta tester. I'm sort of familiar with the floor boss' attack patterns, unless the admins somehow changed it up" Alice announced.

Kirito nodded "I'm also a beta tester"

"We shouldn't have too much problems then. Oh, and Eugeo here is a dex type. I haven't seen him fight a lot, but he has solid parrying skills" Alice added. She knew that it would take Eugeo a while to simply introduce himself, so she did him a favor by telling the other two about his playstyle. Eugeo just nodded, trusting Alice's words.

"As long as all of us are above level 9, we shouldn't have that much difficulty in this boss fight" Kirito informed.

"Um…I don't think all of us can meet that standard as of now" Alice nervously said.

Kirito raised an eyebrow. The black-haired teen proceeded to check his party members' statuses. After pushing a few buttons, the status feed showed up. He browsed each of his members' profiles.

 _Kirito (Level 14)/ HP: 1001/1001_

 _Asuna (Level 10)/ HP: 797/797_

 _Alice (Level 13)/ HP: 978/978_

So far there weren't any problems with the levels of his party members. Oh, there was one more party member left.

 _Eugeo (Level 3)/ HP: 221/221_

Kirito almost fainted.

Kirito instantly felt a wave of immense regret flood over him. Why did he party up with other players again?

This was exactly why he didn't want to party up with anyone and clear this game all by himself. If he didn't have to party with other players for this first boss fight, he wouldn't. But as talented as he is in MMORPG games, he won't be able to go solo in this first boss fight as his level isn't high enough for him to clear a floor by himself.

He ignored invitations from other people to join clans/parties for this exact reason—he would come across what people in the gaming community call 'noobs', players who basically know nothing about the game and shouldn't even be playing the game. He left Klein (the mere thought of his almost-friend was enough to make him uncomfortable) alone in the starting town because he knew that he wasn't as experienced as he was and would only delay him because he would be stuck teaching him how the game works and how to survive in an MMORPG environment.

Now he was stuck with three people whom he didn't exactly trust in terms of fighting capabilities. Sure, there was Alice, who was a beta tester and was only a level below him. Also, there was Asuna, who wasn't too far behind considering how short of a time it's been since the race to conquer SAO started. However, out of the two, Kirito would definitely trust Alice more. She probably knows more about SAO than Asuna does (simply because Asuna doesn't look like she's a beta tester, just someone who knows her way around the game) and he can tell that it won't be difficult at all to fight alongside her.

But there was this Eugeo.

It was enough that he had to save his butt from monsters in the Tolbanna fields before, assuming he was really that player. Now the guy was tagging along? Kirito wouldn't mind if he actually was able to keep up, but he highly doubts this blond kid even knows how to use a skill considering the guy is eleven levels below him.

Kirito resisted the urge to glare at the blond boy. He merely rolled his eyes. It seems he has one extra person to carry this upcoming boss fight.

Since he didn't want to start a fight or anything, Kirito decided to play it nice.

"I see. Hm, if he's a dex type, he won't be doing much of the fighting. He'll play more of a support role, so there's nothing to worry about. He can contribute by blocking enemy attacks for us and we can defend him by beating the boss quicker with our combined abilities"

Alice nodded with a smile "Sounds like a plan. So if he's on support, who's going to be the initiator?"

"I'll handle that. Since I'm the one who deals the highest amount of damage out of all of us, it's best if I strike first. That way I can deal enough damage to either stagger the boss or lure it into attacking me. You and Asuna should be able to nuke the boss with your sword skills if that happens"

"We can do that" Alice agreed with a nod. Asuna also nodded underneath her cloak.

"We should get going then, unless any of you still have to make any last minute preparations?" Kirito asked. Alice and Asuna shook their heads while Eugeo was still as clueless as ever. With that, Kirito walked on and led the way.

Alice jogged a bit to catch up to the black-haired boy in front and matched his pace when she was right beside him.

"So, you're a beta tester too, huh?" Alice started.

"Yes, I was" Kirito replied with a nod.

"Did you finish the beta all the way to the tenth floor?"

"Yeah. It was pretty fun. You?"

"I didn't. I had some stuff to take care of"

"I see"

"Were you worried about concealing your identity as a beta tester? You looked pretty nervous back there when you were staring at me" Alice teased, her cheeks heating up a little as she recalled her little moment with Kirito earlier during the meeting.

Kirito pouted again, much to Alice's amusement "Hey, I wasn't nervous. I was just…thinking"

"Sure, whatever you say. Didn't you remember that I mentioned playing the beta when we met? That should've been a giveaway"

"Well…I got caught up in my thoughts" Kirito replied sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. Alice only giggled and brought up another topic about online gaming to stir the conversation in a different direction.

Alice enjoyed talking with Kirito. For one, he was really, really…really handsome. Also he was really knowledgeable when it comes to MMORPGs as well. Sure, there are a lot of teenage boys out there who know a lot about games, but Kirito's knowledge was seemed to be different. Alice could tell from the shallow topics they touched on, that Kirito was someone who thought things through really well. That only added to Alice's girlish attraction to the black-haired player.

On one hand, Alice didn't feel comfortable acting like a lovesick teenager this early on; it's only been a few days since she and thousands of other players found out that they were trapped in this virtual reality. She should be worrying about getting out of here as fast as possible instead of being all girly. On the other hand, Alice was glad that she was finally able to have a conversation with someone who not only she appeared to relate with but someone who can at least hold a few words. Sure, there was Eugeo, but he was clearly uncomfortable with talking to her…or he was probably just really awkward. Nonetheless, she was glad to be talking to Kirito because in all honesty, Alice thought that Kirito would be more like Eugeo; quiet, shy and _awkward_. She was pleasantly surprised, for it turns out Kirito wasn't like the reserved, blond boy she just met.

Or perhaps, in a way, he actually was. Over the course of their conversation (which has already been going on for a while now), they never really talked about anything personal. All of their topics concerned either the state of SAO during the beta or the gameplay of MMORPG games in general. Neither of them brought up anything about their real lives; family, friends, hobbies, nothing. Everything was about gaming. Also, maybe the fact that Alice was also a beta tester made it a lot easier for Kirito to hold even just a casual conversation about video games with the teenage girl. Still, it was enough for Alice. Talking about games was better than nothing.

 **(A/N: If any of you have questions/concerns/disagreements/clarifications about the way how I wrote about Kirito and his seemingly OOC attitude towards Alice this early in Aincrad, please refer to the author's note at the end of this chapter.)**

As Alice and Kirito carried on with their conversation, Eugeo and Asuna were trailing a few steps behind them. In contrast to the pair in front, Eugeo and Asuna were both dead silent. Neither spoke a word nor even cast the other a glance. He didn't know about Asuna, but Eugeo rather preferred it this way. Alice's friendliness was nice, but he didn't really enjoy talking to people he barely knew.

Eventually, the four reached the entrance of the tower where the floor boss was located. Alice and Kirito continued their conversation while Eugeo and Alice just sat on the side and remained silent. Slowly, players began flooding the tower entrance. About half an hour later, everyone was all set and the raid was ready to begin. With a few more words of encouragement from the blue-haired speaker named Diavel, the different parties headed out.

On the way to the top of the tower, none of the four members of the party did much work. Alice and Asuna would slay occasional foes from time to time, but since a few other parties were walking ahead of them, no one really did a lot of the 'clearing'.

When they reached the door outside the floor boss' location, Diavel reminded the others of a few points to watch out for such as the boss' weapon, possible attack patterns, et cetera. Minutes later, the groups of players entered the area.

When Eugeo stepped inside the room, he looked around. On the other side of the room, there were four monsters. One looked like a huge kobold and in front of it was three other monsters which he guessed were his guards. He glanced down his battle log that was glowing red.

' _Kobold Lord' (Level 11/HP: 1570/1570)_

"Eugeo" he heard someone call him. He turned and saw Alice looking at him…worriedly? "Stay right behind me, okay? Just parry the boss' attacks, we'll take care of the hitting" Eugeo just nodded.

He forgot to tell her that he wouldn't really mind getting killed by that thing. Oh well, maybe his death wish was going to be fulfilled after all.

 **(A/N: If any of you have questions/clarifications/etc. or if you feel that it's a little weird that Eugeo even made it this far as to agree to tag along with a couple of other players to progress in a game he doesn't understand at all like an idiot, please refer to the author's note at the end of this chapter.)**

The boss suddenly roared and charged forward with his lackeys.

"Okay, let's go!" Diavel cried out and charged the boss while the others followed. Kirito, Alice, Asuna and Eugeo all drew their swords and dashed forward to join their comrades in battle.

The boss' lackeys reached the players first. Two of them—the one on the middle and on the right, occupied the other parties. The one on the left stood in the way of the party of four. Kirito immediately jumped to action; he leapt up in the air and brought his sword above his head. His weapon emitted a bluish glow then he swung at the monster. The blow staggered the fiend, allowing Alice and Asuna to execute their sword skill combinations. In a matter of seconds, the monster fell in battle.

"Come on!" Kirito urged as he charged forward again, his fellow party members following closely behind him.

Two other parties were already ahead of the group of four. Kirito trained his eyes on the other players as he saw them trying to land a hit on the boss. All of their attacks were either getting blocked or weren't dealing that much damage. Knowing that he and his party members had \ work to do, he gripped his sword tightly and readied a sword skill.

The black-haired swordsman brought his weapon across his left side. His sword began to glow once again as he tightened his grip on its hilt.

"HUWAAAAA!" Kirito cried as he swung his sword diagonally to his upper-right, executing the skill called 'Cross Slash'. He was able to land a clean hit on the floor boss' back.

The gargantuan fiend growled in pain and turned its angry, crimson-hued eyes towards the boy who just hit him. The boss ran towards Kirito to retaliate, but before it could reach him, it was bombarded with a rapid succession of sword skills.

Alice and Asuna took advantage of the opening Kirito created. Kirito was able to lure and distract the floor boss because he knew (from the beta obviously) that part of this boss' attack pattern is that it primarily focuses on the last player who deals damage to it. Since he had the boss' attention, Alice and Asuna were able to attack without worrying about getting countered.

 _Cross. Left. Right. Down. Thrust. Thrust. Left. Cross. Up._

The boss growled again. Kirito, Alice, Asuna and the other players' attacks were able to take away around a third of the boss' health points. The boss had enough; it was time to retaliate. The kobold dashed forward and swung at Kirito, hoping it could return the favor from earlier.

Kirito's eyebrows furrowed. He prepared himself to parry the boss' oncoming attack. Much to his surprise, the boss' sword didn't reach him at all. Before it could even be a meter within in his range, another sword met it head on and stopped it from travelling any further. Kirito's eyes widened; to say that he was shocked was a grave understatement. He certainly didn't ever expect to be greeted with the sight that was right in front of him at the moment.

There stood Eugeo with his sword held out, holding the boss back from attacking. In the next second, the blond boy swung his sword upwards in an attempt to disarm the boss. The boss staggered a bit but recovered quickly; the giant beast swung its long sword backwards and tried to squash the meddling blond boy with a good downward bash. Eugeo reacted quicker though; he swiftly spun around and used the momentum he gathered to swing his sword upwards with more force. His parrying blow once again staggered the boss, leaving the beast open to an attack.

Kirito immediately noticed this and took off. Not wanting to waste the opportunity that the boy he who he thought would be a 'noob' created, he lunged forward and executed a chain of sword skills. _Cross, cross, right, thrust_.

Right after Kirito finished his series of attacks, the cloaked Asuna followed up his assault by executing a combo of her own. The floor boss could do nothing but absorb the rapid succession of hits Asuna landed.

The boss growled in pain again but this time, instead of just announcing its pain to the world, it retaliated. Fed up with getting beat up repeatedly, the boss swung its arm to the side, hoping to land a hit on the last player who attacked it—Asuna. Kirito's eyes widened. He saw the incoming attack of the boss as soon as it raised its arm. Kirito dashed forward and tried to get Asuna out of the way.

"Asuna, watch out!" Kirito shouted.

Asuna turned her head to see what Kirito was pertaining to. Upon seeing the arm of the floor boss just a few inches away from her, she froze on her feet, her eyes wide as silver plates. Luckily for her, Kirito was able to get to her in time. The black-haired boy jumped in front of Asuna and shoved her out of the way. Asuna gasped as she felt Kirito move her out of the boss' range.

The boss was able to retaliate successfully this time; it was able to land a clean, powerful hit on Kirito. The Kobold Lord's huge arm whacked Kirito across the cheek. The powerful blow sent the boy flying a few meters away.

Alice and Eugeo were able to witness the whole scene. Alice let out a gasp of her own then she narrowed her eyes at the boss. She felt a wave of rage flood her insides. Her mind was determined; she was going to avenge Kirito. Eugeo on the other hand, was only able to furrow his eyebrows. He glanced at Alice and saw the determined look on her face. He could literally feel the boiling rage within the blonde girl.

"Charge!" a voice boomed. Eugeo turned his gaze to the source of the voice. He saw a number of players charging towards the boss. The one in front of the cavalry was Diavel. The blue-haired player had his sword drawn out, ready to jump at the boss. He was followed by around ten, maybe eleven other players ready to attack.

Kirito landed face-first into the concrete floor. The boy hissed as he tried to sit up, the blow he endured making him see stars. Asuna rushed to his side to help him. She took off her hood and checked Kirito's HP from the party tab. She was relieved to see that Kirito's health bar was still on the green zone and that he only took around 200 points of damage or so. The brunette helped Kirito steady himself, grasping his shoulders to support him.

"Kirito, are you okay?" her soft, but worried voice reached Kirito's ears.

Kirito cringed and he turned to her. At first, Kirito narrowed his eyes at her. Since when had he been acquainted with a brown-haired, brown-eyed girl? Kirito blinked repeatedly; she was still there. Oh that's right; Asuna was with him.

So this is what Asuna looked like…she was pretty cute.

Kirito shook his head. This wasn't the time to let his teenage self out. With a grunt, he answered Asuna "Yes, I'm fine".

Asuna let out a sigh of relief. Kirito turned his narrowed gaze towards the other charging players. Then he took a glance at the boss. That was weird. During the beta, the boss only resorted to sword attacks. It never used its arm like the way it did or anything. Maybe the admin changed some of its attributes and tendencies to mess with the beta testers.

Kirito began to look for more possible differences between the beta boss and this actual boss. Everything seemed the same…until his eyes landed on the boss' weapon. Anxiety and a twinge of fear crept up on his Kirito. His eyes widened as he saw that the boss' weapon didn't look at all similar from that of the beta boss'.

He had to warn the others. That wasn't any ordinary sword.

"Watch out! The boss has the counterattack ability!" Kirito exclaimed.

Unfortunately, no one was able to heed his warning for everyone else was too focused on the battle. The forces led by Diavel charged; Kirito and his party members watched as the players unknowingly marched to their deaths. They saw Diavel raise his sword and jump forward to hit the boss with a sword skill.

The boss simply kicked Diavel square in the torso, sending the blue-haired boy up in the air, then the boss continued its assault by slashing repeatedly at the poor, defenseless player. When Diavel landed on the floor, the boss went to work on the other players who followed him. Kirito gasped and rushed to Diavel's fallen body.

Alice gritted her teeth. She had enough. With a loud cry, she charged forward to try and lure the boss away from the helpless players. Eugeo gripped the hilt of his sword and sprinted forward to follow her.

Everything she could do, she was willing to do…anything to get that thing away from the others. That was the mindset Alice had as she neared the boss. First, she had to catch the boss' attention. Fortunately, the boss had its back turned to her as it continued its onslaught. Alice got right into it; she executed her combo again, unleashing a rapid succession of sword skills like she did earlier. After final thrust though, something unexpected happened.

The boss' entire form glowed a crimson red color. Alice caught sight of this at the last minute; she had her sword to the side since she just finished her combo, meaning she was vulnerable to an attack. Time seemed to have slowed down. Alice watched, with eyes wide, as the boss' sword made its way to her. The boss was using a skill, which would explain why its form was glowing. Alice knew that there's a high possibility that if this boss were to hit her, it wouldn't hit her only once, but many, _many_ times. Also, it appeared that this wasn't just any normal skill. The boss was executing its 'desperation move'. Usually, bosses in MMORPGs perform a special attack when they are low on health in an attempt to equalize the situation for them. And right now, Alice was about to be the sole receiver of the boss' countermove.

The boss began its string of counterattacks by a downward slash. Alice closed her eyes and prepared herself. She readied her healing items, because she knew that there's no way in hell her health bar won't be in the red zone after this combo. But then…the boss never hit her.

She heard a loud 'clang' in front of her. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Eugeo's body right in front of hers. Eugeo was gripping the hilt of his sword with two hands and from the looks of it, he swung it upwards to meet the boss' attack. The boss growled, retreated its sword and immediately swung to the left. Eugeo followed the boss' movements. Another 'clang' went off. The boss repeated; this time it swung to the right. Another 'clang'. Then the boss swung diagonally. Another 'clang'. The other side. Another 'clang'.

The boss prepared for final hit of its combo. It let out a loud roar then attempted to bash Eugeo. Eugeo had to bring his sword backwards to gather more force before meeting the boss' blow. When their swords clashed, Eugeo's sword broke. The force from the boss' attack managed to knock Eugeo backwards, knocking him down to the ground.

"Eugeo!" Alice exclaimed with worry as she knelt down next to him.

The boss on the other hand, appeared to be shaken up. It shook its head repeatedly and prepared to attack the blond pair in front of it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Kirito appeared. The boy knew that the boss' health bar was almost empty. With that in mind, he drew his sword and rushed the boss with only one goal in sight.

"HYAAAAAA!" Kirito cried out as he sword began to glow once again. He used his sword skills to give the boss two swift diagonal slashes, creating an 'X' mark then he finished the job with a thrust straight through the boss' abdomen.

The floor boss growled in pain. Seconds later, it slowly backpedaled before finally falling to the ground. Its fallen body glowed, before it completely vanished into crystal-like particles moments later. Once the boss' form vanished, there were a few words written in gold colors that blinked in its spot on the floor.

' _Floor cleared!'_

The sound of a door opening in the distance followed. Kirito collapsed on one knee, trying to compose himself after the rather challenging boss fight.

Alice grasped Eugeo's shoulders, making the blond boy look up at her. Their eyes met. Eugeo could see the utter worry and concern shining in Alice's sea-blue eyes. Alice could see a maelstrom of mixed emotions in Eugeo's bluish-green eyes.

"Are you okay?" Alice whispered softly.

Eugeo gulped, but nodded. The action seemed to settle the blonde girl in front of him slightly. They both turned their gazes forward in front towards Kirito. Alice got up and walked towards the said boy, while Eugeo was left on the ground, one question plaguing his mind.

What in the hell did he just get himself into?

 **A/N: To be honest, I wasn't very confident with writing this chapter. I have to admit that writing fight/battle scenes is difficult for me. I'm not used to being very detailed about how characters fight, swing their swords and stuff. So I'm sorry if it wasn't up to your expectations and that I overused a lot of words. I'll try my best to improve that though, I assure you that. This is an SAO fic after all.**

 **So, I placed a few notes in the middle of the chapter, after the parts where I thought some of you will probably have a few questions in mind. First, about how I wrote Kirito. A lot of people in the community believe that Kirito, at the beginning of SAO, was not ready for an actual relationship (be it friendship or romance) as shown in his act of running away/abandoning Klein in the starting town. On one hand, I agree. But I don't think Kirito was NOT ready for a relationship with anyone at that point. I think one of the reasons why he left Klein in the starting town was because he had no confidence in his abilities. Klein was a newbie in SAO, as shown in the first episode where Kirito had to teach him a few things about the mechanics of the game (i.e. how to use sword skills). I think that's one of the factors that made Kirito abandon Klein. He would just slow him down. As for why I think he's not as cold and reserved as people think of him to be, it can be seen when he met Asuna. Kirito was the one who approached Asuna and asked her to party up with him. Also, he even shared that cream thing with her when they were eating bread at night. His early actions towards the cloaked Asuna make me believe that it wasn't that he wasn't ready for an actual relationship with anyone, but it was more of he really wanted to get the hell out of SAO and he didn't want anything/anyone to slow him down. I made Alice a beta tester because of this. Perhaps since Alice is pretty much on the same level as him, he won't be as cold towards her and won't hesitate to have a few words with her. This is actually an important aspect that I tried to highlight. Kirito and Alice will be pretty much on the same level thus eliciting feelings from a certain blonde girl (ahem* Alice). I just think Kirito gets along much better with beta testers, Diavel and Agil are good examples to that. So, that's why I wrote Kirito as someone who isn't as…awkward(?) as he was in the anime.**

 **Second, about Eugeo. If he really wanted nothing to do with Kirito and the others, why did he even bother to go along with him? And if the reason why he's staying with Alice is because he feels it's impolite to not say goodbye and just walk away, then isn't that a shallow/stupid reason? For one, Eugeo doesn't value his life…at least not at this point. Also, notice that before the boss fight, Alice and Eugeo interact. They also interact when Eugeo saw the look on Alice's face when Kirito got the hell whacked out of him. More importantly, take note of the last line of this chapter. The last line implies that Eugeo was not fully himself. The reason for that will be explained in the coming chapters. I didn't give a direct answer to these possible questions about Eugeo, but the point that I'm making here is that I notice what you guys notice. And I will explain everything through the development of this story later on.**

 **There you have it! Thank you for reading everyone. Please keep up the support, send me your feedback either via reviewing of sending me a PM. Please also follow/favorite this story; it means a lot to me. Expect the next update in around a few weeks. I have another two-week break coming up and only a week left for school. I hope this long chapter compensates for my long absence, even for just a bit. If it's too fast, then I'll try to change things up next chapter. Thank you for reading and have a great day!**


	5. Chapter 5: A Step Backwards

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back with another update! It's only been a month or so since I updated…that's not too bad to be honest, considering all the stuff that's been bothering me in my personal life. I'm really thankful that a lot of you are still reading this. I've said this before and I'll continue to say it; you readers are one of the main reasons as to why I keep writing. Please keep up the support and keep reading. I promised myself that I'll do everything in my power to finish this story since I already have an ending in mind. As for this next chapter, I have to warn you; this looks a lot like a filler chapter. The plot won't really advance that much here, for a good reason. This chapter contains a lot of characterization that will hopefully get you readers to know the characteristics of the characters in this story. It contains a lot of thinking, simply because I want to show you readers how characters like Eugeo, Alice, etc. are driven to act in this universe. That being said, on to the review responses section!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **Some Guest: Thank you for reading and reviewing! Since you asked a number of questions, I'll address them each.**

 **1) I would lean towards yes in that question. However, I am not a hundred percent sure on that since I still haven't thought of a way to include EVERY character in the canon. But as you can see, Diavel for example, has already died in this story so far. I'm still thinking if I should even mention the Moonlit Black Cats in this story, since I'll be focusing mainly on Eugeo and Alice. As for the others, I'm still not sure.**

 **2) That's something I'm still looking into, so I apologize since I do not have a direct answer to that question yet again. As I mentioned, I'm trying to focus on Eugeo and Alice as much as possible. I have some plot points in mind where I'll be able to incorporate some of those NPCs, but I'm still undecided on that.**

 **3) As of now, no. Although I am thinking about if I should write until the timeline of ALO. Right now, I'll dedicate only a chapter or two briefly mentioning those characters.**

 **4) I've kept up with the light novels until volume 15, and I can guarantee you that almost EVERY character in the Alicization arc will be mentioned here. Also, they will all play pivotal roles in the shaping of Eugeo and Alice's relationship, especially characters like Quinella and the Zizek swordsman who tried to molest Eugeo and Kirito's valets (I don't quite remember their names LOL sorry) as they are what ultimately made Eugeo who he was in the light novels.**

 **gemmysaur: Thank you for reading and reviewing! Glad to see that you're still here! Regarding Kirito's social skills, he seems to be all awkward mainly when he's with Asuna. I think he did pretty well with other characters like Klein, Agil, Silica, etc. Oops, I'm terribly sorry about that** **I just thought it would be best if I point out that the readers can already find explanations behind some possible questions they have…I'll be sure to not do that again in the future. I intentionally made it Alice fall for Kirito at the snap of a finger simply because that's how every girl in the anime (I didn't get to read the novels outside of the alicization arc) basically fell for him. All of the girls like Silica and Lisbeth fell for Kirito within around 24 hours since the moment they met. I just wanted to sort of follow that nonsensical and almost comical way of romance development (no offense to fans of those pairings though)…think of it as my way of showing that Alice is just another harem of Kirito's until she realizes who she truly wants to be with *ehem Eugeo*. About the levels, this chapter actually addresses that in a way. There is a reason for why Eugeo was able to parry the boss' attacks like it was the most natural thing in the world despite his low level. I will not give you the full explanation (sorry, I want you to stay tuned for that HAHA) right now, but please review what is going on when it all happened—like who were the people involved, what was going on, things like that. I can't give you the explanation because the full reason behind that is something that will define Kirito and Eugeo's relationship later on. Actually, if you read this chapter closely, you will see what I'm talking about. The first part of this chapter is still about Kirito, so perhaps you'll find some sort of an explanation behind your point on that. Do note though, that I'm pertaining to Eugeo's act of defending Alice ONLY. What Eugeo did is a specific case; all other encounters against enemies will follow what you pointed out…meaning against normal enemies under normal circumstances, I will be sure to take note of and incorporate the points you raised about how levels play a huge factor in combat effectiveness of each character. In other words, I agree that levels play a key role, but just not in the case of Eugeo during the previous chapter. That point you raised about Kirito however, is an honest mistake. That completely slipped my mind. I got carried away by making him as OP as possible LOL. I'm also really sorry for grammatical errors if there are; I don't put a whole lot of time into proof-reading since I get excited to update once I finish the chapter. I'll do my best to improve on that though for sure. Thank you for the positive feedback and for your concern…it's really rare for a relatively new writer like myself to come across reviewers like you who are really concerned about helping me improve. Thank you so much for that…I definitely appreciate it!**

 **NET: Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you found this fic interesting! And yes, I will continue that trend. Expect to see more of Eugeo being more of an average-type of player and not a seemingly once-in-a-generation type like Kirito. Really? I thought the fighting scene was terrible HAHA. Thank you for tuning in!**

 **DaManWOFear: Thank you for reading and reviewing! Eugeo looks like he's out of character; that's because the story hasn't developed yet. Expect to see him become more like his canon-self as the story progresses. I plan to focus on Eugeo's relationship with Alice though…but I will go into detail about his relationship with Kirito as well. As of now, I will only dedicate a chapter or two that involves ALO, which I won't do until near the end of the story. In a way yes, Eugeo is pretty similar to Ciel in that regard. I will indeed do that…although I'm having a little trouble incorporating Asuna into the story effectively right now.**

 **Guest: Thank you for reading and reviewing! Kirito/Alice won't be the main pairing in this story though…as you've seen, the protagonist in this story is Eugeo.**

 **Now on to the chapter! Happy reading!**

Kirito struggled to compose himself. He mildly trembled; after the events that just took place, the struggle, the shouting, Diavel's dying words…it was a miracle he was still in control of himself. The ebony-haired teen clenched his fist against the hard floor. He closed his eyes, focusing solely on huffing and puffing for more air.

Amidst his internal conflict, Kirito felt a hand rest on his right shoulder. He blinked a couple of times then he slowly dragged his gaze to the owner of the said hand. His black irises met Alice's blue orbs that were teeming with concern.

"Are you…okay?" Alice whispered. A part of her scolded herself for asking such a dumb question. How could she expect him to be fine after what just happened?

Kirito was having the same thoughts; of course he wasn't fine…or at least he wasn't a hundred percent. The boy responded with a small nod nonetheless.

Kirito heard a sound go off in front of him. He turned his gaze in front of him and saw a large message box.

 _You obtained:_

 _Coat of midnight x 1_

The boy suddenly remembered Diavel's last words about how he should land the last hit on the boss in order to obtain the special drop. Kirito gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. He was reminded of the feeling of utter shock that overtook him minutes ago upon discovering that Diavel was also a beta tester. He could've contributed so much to the players stuck here in SAO. But now…he's gone.

"It's that player's fault that Diavel is dead!"

"Yeah! If he warned us about the boss' attack patterns beforehand, we would've been able to save him!"

"He must be a beta tester! That's why he knew what the boss was going to do!"

"And he didn't even warn us?! What a selfish bastard!"

"Damn cheater!"

"We should punish him!"

"He should give us all his items in return!"

"All his col too!"

"I agree!"

"Yeah!"

The rather harsh words of his fellow players didn't faze Kirito in the slightest. As a matter of fact, the boy expected this negativity from the others. Luckily, he already had a plan as to how to deal with all of them. With a deep sigh, he stood up.

"Why don't you noobs shut up?" he said in a low voice. Some of the other players gasped, while others gritted their teeth in frustration upon hearing Kirito's words.

Kirito clenched his fists. He had to do this. There was no other way. He has to go on his own, otherwise he won't be able to get out of this game until the next decade. He could probably let Alice on his little plan but…no, he shouldn't. Even if he was sure the blonde girl would make one hell of a partner given her knowledge and fighting capabilities, he had a feeling that she wouldn't be too willing to tag along with a boy she just met a few hours ago. Besides, she didn't look like the type who would be willing to shut other people out for the sake of clearing this damned game faster…so unlike him.

"You cretins should be thankful I even took the time to help you. I could've just let you all charge to your pathetic deaths and handled the boss myself once you noobs were out of the picture. Beating the boss would definitely have been a thousand times easier if I didn't have to watch out for a bunch of inept airheads" the black-haired boy continued, his tone cold as ice. The boy gritted hissed. He resisted the urge to punch himself in the face for being so heartless. But if he doesn't put on this cold, indifferent, arrogant front, it would take him longer to make it all the way to the hundredth floor. He didn't want to be an asshole to anyone, but he didn't want to stay here for an extended period of time either.

"Why you little-" a player hissed as he took a step forward towards Kirito. He wasn't able to go any further as another random player held him back and shook his head at him.

"Hm? Got something to say?" Kirito challenged as he continued to scroll thru his inventory for the rare drop he was able to secure.

"Shut you, brat! You may be strong, but that doesn't give you the right to talk us less experienced players like that!"

"Your toxic behavior is one of the reasons why we HATE beta testers!"

"Players like you don't deserve to complete this game!"

"Who do you think you are, anyway?!"

"Who am I?" Kirito echoed coldly as he found the item he was searching for. He tapped on the name of the item, making a log box appear in front of him.

' _Equip Coat of Midnight?'_

The boy tapped on the green circle as an affirmative. In an instant, his blue top was replaced with a long, black coat that reached all the way down to his heels. Making sure that he already had his emotionless mask on, he calmly turned around to face the group of onlookers. He saw a myriad of glares aimed directly at him, scrutinizing him, judging him. He met the incriminating gazes of the other players with his own. He glanced at all of them, almost feeling their frustration and animosity towards him.

He caught sight of his party members from earlier; his eyebrows furrowed in concern. Eugeo was still on the ground, his eyes wide as he seemed to struggle to compose himself. Asuna stood beside that Agil guy from the meeting; she was looking at him worriedly as well. When his gaze landed on Alice, his features softened.

Alice' wide blue orbs were staring back at him in shock. The look on her face said it all; she couldn't believe that the cute boy she was conversing with an hour ago turned out to be an arrogant bastard. Kirito felt a pang of guilt strike his core. He watched as the blonde seemingly froze over in disbelief. Kirito gulped; they might meet again someday, so maybe he should say something.

Kirito held Alice's gaze in silence. The other players from the crowd started talking trash again, but Kirito blocked their insults out. He blinked at Alice; through his gaze he attempted to communicate an explanation for his brash behavior. It sounded like something someone from a fictional universe would do, but there it was certainly better than nothing at this point.

Gradually, Alice visibly relaxed. She seemed to have understood or at the very least had an idea as to what he was trying to communicate through his stare. Hesitantly, Alice nodded, making Kirito sigh in relief. Kirito acknowledge Alice with a nod of his own and a brief smile of gratitude before turning back to the crowd with his emotionless expression on.

"I am the Black Swordsman…" Kirito began in a firm tone, silencing the other players "…and I am what they call a 'beater'. I will one day clear the hundredth floor and complete this game. Just stay out of my way and you will all make it out of here alive. I have no time to deal with the likes of incapable players such as yourselves"

Kirito turned to Asuna and approached her. When he was in front of her, he offered her a small smile "You're a great warrior. You should join a guild someday. I'm sure a lot of players would have love to have on their team" Kirito lowered his voice so that only a few people, specifically Asuna, would be able to hear him.

Then he turned towards Alice. They held each other's gaze once again. Kirito flashed Alice a warm smile, causing the blonde's cheeks to heat up. "I'll see you soon" assured Kirito. Alice returned his smile and nodded. Kirito used their connected gazes to thank Alice for her understanding. The boy was glad there was someone who was able to pick up on his signals quickly. Alice's smile widened, which signified her "No problem/you're welcome" reply.

Finally, Kirito turned to Eugeo. He was very impressed with the blond boy. For someone who didn't know that much about MMORPGs in general (it was pretty obvious from the way he looked clueless whenever he heard certain phrases typical gamers would be familiar with), he did a great job of holding his ground as well as protecting Alice. Because of Eugeo's efforts, Alice didn't lose a single point of health. Not only that, but on several occasions during the battle, Eugeo went as far as risking his own life to ensure her safety—such an audacious act for someone who had a much lower level than the common monsters they encountered on the way to the tower. However, Kirito doubted that the true reason behind Eugeo's act of remaining with their party was to protect Alice. The blond boy clearly had very little knowledge, if any, about SAO. His constant bafflement and current level were enough to attest to that.

Kirito remembered how Alice glared at Eugeo when he was about to decline the party invitation earlier. But that doesn't really make sense, does it? Maybe Eugeo owed Alice something and he saw tagging along the party as a way of repaying her? That's ridiculous. What could have Alice owed him that made him throw himself into a fight that could have led to his demise? Or perhaps he just didn't value his life that much…in that case…he had to watch out for this Eugeo. Kirito had a feeling that once Eugeo gets the hang of things in this virtual world, he would be a force to reckon with. His obvious talent with a sword means that he most likely practiced Kendo or something similar in real life…just like Kirito himself.

Kirito silently thanked Eugeo with a nod, even if the blond boy's eyes were still trained on the floor. Eugeo reminded him of an essential trait he himself should possess if he was to finish this game. Quite frankly, he almost forgot about it…but thanks to Eugeo's performance, he believes he'll take the reminder to his grave.

After giving Agil another nod, Kirito turned around and began to approach the large door at the end of the hall which led to the next floor.

A few minutes of silence passed before the rest of the players began conversing amongst themselves again. No other player immediately followed Kirito to the next floor. The others talked about the events that transpired in the fight and what their plan would be now that Diavel was dead.

Alice turned to her side and was met with the sight of Eugeo still on the ground. Alice felt a pang of guilt claw at her heart; she rushed to the boy's side and knelt down in front of him. Her forehead creased in worry as she saw Eugeo almost not blinking at all as he continued to stare at the ground. Hesitantly, she reached out and rested her hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Eugeo?" she whispered softly.

Her voice seemed to break Eugeo out of his trance. Eugeo, as if he had forgotten how to turn his neck, slowly turned his head to meet Alice's worried gaze.

Alice's guilt was amplified when their eyes met. Now that there was no longer an ongoing battle and Kirito wasn't around anymore, the voice of reason became audible for the blonde. She shouldn't have dragged him to the boss meeting. She shouldn't have forced him to accept the party invite. She shouldn't have left him to chat with Kirito on the way to the tower. She shouldn't have been so heartless. She shouldn't have been so selfish. She was so caught up in trying to clear the floor that she had forgotten to consider Eugeo's condition. He was inexperienced, clueless and probably didn't want anything to do with her anymore after what he had gone through. In her haste to return to the real world, she became utterly insensitive to the feelings of those around her. What was happening to her? All she wanted was to return home to see her loved ones again. She completely disregarded the fact that Eugeo probably had his own family to go back to. How did she turn to such an evil person?

"Stop…" Eugeo whispered back. Alice snapped out of it and refocused her eyes on him. "Don't blame yourself for anything…" the blond continued. It appears that Alice was thinking rather out loud. "I'm fine…just a little…confused. What happened? Did we beat it?" Eugeo asked, pertaining to the boss.

Alice nodded and continued to speak in a hushed tone "Yes. We've cleared the first floor. Are you…are you alright?" the worry in Alice's voice was so apparent that it made Eugeo worry about her as well. Suddenly, the blonde gushed fort a plethora of apologies in a borderline hysteric manner. "Oh Eugeo, I'm so, so sorry. I shouldn't have dragged you along like some luggage. I should've asked you first. I should've considered your feelings and-"

"Alice, I said stop it" Eugeo reiterated, a bit more firmly this time "You didn't mean to put my life in danger; I know that"

"B-but I forced you to go along with us" Alice stammered guiltily.

Eugeo shook his head "You may have convinced me, but ultimately, it was my decision to stick with you. Don't be so hard on yourself. It's not your fault" Eugeo sighed. He wasn't really in a talking mood right now, especially since his thoughts were starting to get the best of him. However, he couldn't just let Alice wallow in regret. The last thing he wanted to do was be the cause of her guilt.

Alice sighed and shook her head stubbornly "Still, I'm really sorry…I'm so sorry for being such an insensitive brat…it's because of me that you could've…." Alice gulped, not being able to say the word.

Eugeo was well aware of what she was trying to say. He resisted the urge to say that he honestly wouldn't have minded if he perished. Or would he? Now he remembered why he was so consumed by his thoughts. At the conclusion of the battle, Eugeo immediately reevaluated himself. He looked around him and observed his fellow players. Most of them were grieving at the loss of their comrades. Some shed tears, some collapsed on the ground while wrapping their arms tightly around their heads as if trying to block the screams of those who were defeated mere minutes ago, some were merely staring into the distance, completely consumed by their thoughts, some were already discussing what to do when they get to the next town, some were exchanging strategies and forming alliances, et cetera.

What caught his eye in particular were those who grieved. The boy found it eerily amusing that the thing a lot (if not, all) of these players value the most was something he wants to throw away like a mere candy wrapper.

The loss of life. The extinction of opportunities. The loss of the ability to choose. The imminent truth. The ultimate finality.

He almost couldn't believe that he voluntarily put himself in a position where he tethered on the edge of the death. Over an hour ago, he wished that cruel but sweet-sounding reality upon himself. However, watching how these other people react to the passing of their friends made the young boy take a step backwards. Eugeo was no stranger to grieving. As a matter of fact, his experience with having to deal with the passing of a relative or a loved one was honestly one of the reasons that made him want to end his life. He believed that death was a sweet, eternal slumber. While some people would still 'grieve' for him, he didn't care at all. But today's events managed to make him think a little harder on his decision.

Should he end his life? Or should he continue living? Death is irreversible; he is perfectly aware of that. But his suffering in the real world reached a whole new level that made him want to just sleep forever. Maybe he entertained the idea of death and even tried to kill himself because it's been a long time since he's ever been around it. The last time he lost people who mattered to him was…he would rather not remember, at least not yet. But it had already been over seven years since that incident. He might've been away from death for too long that he had already forgotten what it was like. He just no longer had the patience to put up with everything in life…

Eugeo inwardly shook his head. This was not the right time to make a decision on what he should do next. He was in the wrong environment and it was on the wrong time. He would rather make a decision where he is comfortable and when he is certain that the outcome of his actions is indeed what he wants. Although, the bottom line is, whatever decision he makes—whether he decides to live on or not—is something that requires much thinking and/or reflection. In a way, the grieving of these players around him reminded him that death is not something to be taken lightly. He would do well to remember so.

"It's not your fault" Eugeo parroted. He was starting to get pissed off, but he couldn't really blame Alice. He would probably be unable to live with himself had someone died because of him. He understood, but he didn't exactly know how to say so without sounding like a douche himself. "Just…I…" Eugeo sighed deeply. This was one of the reasons why he never liked socializing in the first place. Goodness, he must sound so stupid right now. "Look, don't blame yourself, okay? I'm responsible for myself. Whatever I decide on is purely up to me. You didn't force me into anything. Stop apologizing for something beyond your control" Eugeo explained, trying to control his frustration.

Alice let out a sigh "O-okay…if you say so. How are you though? Are you sure you're okay? You seemed pretty shaken up after the fight"

Eugeo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Alice was quite stubborn, wasn't she? "I told you, I'll be okay. I just have some things on my mind"

"A-alright then…" Alice trailed.

Eugeo glanced at the girl in front of him. He suddenly felt bad. Here she was, checking up on him, making sure he was okay and he's not really doing a good job of showing his appreciation. With a sigh, he kept the conversation going.

"How about you? Any scratches or anything like that?"

Alice raised an eyebrow, any trace of guilt marring her features seconds ago being replaced with confusion. "Not really. Players can't have 'scratches' in this virtual world. We don't actually get hurt from getting hit by monsters. We only lose HP points when we're hit"

"Oh, sorry I didn't know that. How's your HP then?" the boy cringed. He definitely needed to work on how to use game-related terms in a sentence properly.

At this, Alice's lips stretched into a smile; maybe because of his awkwardness or his concern, or perhaps even both "Full. I didn't lose a single health point, all thanks to you"

Eugeo's brows furrowed in confusion "Huh? What did I do?"

"You protected me, remember?" added Alice, her smile widening.

Because she mentioned it, Eugeo recalled how he bravely (idiotically) launched himself in front of Alice to parry the boss' attacks. "O-oh…yes, I remember"

Alice let out a silent snort, but quickly shook her head. There were more important matters to worry about. "Well…if you're okay, we should get going then. Or do you want to stay here a little longer?" Alice asked, looking around her and seeing that a few players were already heading for the door to the next floor.

"Your call" simply answered the boy.

Alice smiled and nodded "Okay then…" she trailed before getting on her feet. Eugeo glanced up at her and looked her in the eye again. Alice held out her hand for the still-sitting boy to take, which he reluctantly did. After Alice pulled him up to a stand, they remained silent and simply stared into each other's eyes for a few moments.

"I'll go and check on Asuna" Alice announced, to which Eugeo nodded in acknowledgement.

When Alice went ahead, Eugeo was left on his own again. He took another glance around him. This time, there were thankfully much less players who were crying/sobbing. Most of them now either stared into the distance in silence or kept taking deep breaths to calm themselves down.

Eugeo turned his gaze towards the large door to the second floor. Hopefully he'll be able to find a place where his thoughts will flow freely. The boy had a feeling that during his time beyond that door, he'll finally come up with a decision on whether he should live on or not. For one, these players who want to clear the game as soon as they can will probably rest for at least a few days. A lot of them were shaken up from the losses they endured. Second, since that is probably going to be the case, that means Alice won't be around very often. Without the blonde's presence, he will surely have some peace of mind to reflect on everything. Lastly, now that he has been reminded of the prospect of death, it will probably be a lot easier to make his mind up.

Eugeo was in no rush though; he knew the time would come for him to face his dilemma. For now though, he was with Alice.

"Hey," said blonde's voice caught his attention. Eugeo turned and saw that Asuna was now beside Alice "we should get going. Asuna's coming with us"

Eugeo and Asuna exchanged a glance before Eugeo nodded. Then the three of them set out to enter the next floor.

Along the way, Alice and Asuna began to converse. Asuna opened up their dialogue by apologizing for her rather aloof behavior when they first met, to which Alice brushed off with a smile. Their talk covered a pretty wide range of topics; from their previous experiences with other MMORPG games to some basic personal details, the two chatted away and quickly befriended one another…while Eugeo was contented to walk behind the two chattering girls and immerse himself in silence.

When they entered the second floor, they found themselves in a terrain that was quite different from the first floor. While the areas on the first floor were mostly grass fields like the Tolbanna Fields, the area on the second floor looked more like a savanna. There was still a lot of grass in the general area, but there were more trees present. Also, there was a staggering amount of large boulders that were scattered across the region. The monsters were of course different; they were different in appearance, strength and level. While the first floor was crawling mainly with wolves, this savanna-type area was full of oxen, birds and hyenas. But since Eugeo was with Alice and Asuna, the fiends were taken care of easily. Also, they split the experience points given by the monsters evenly, allowing Eugeo to gain some easy EXP.

Eventually, the trio made it out of the savanna area. They passed by various mountain ranges and plateaus and soon arrived at the settlement of Urbus. It was relatively larger than the main town on the first floor, as Urbus appears to have been created from a crater from the mountainous region surrounding it.

The settlement itself was around the same size of Tolbanna. Weirdly, all of the buildings in the settlement were of the same height. The NPCs from Urbus were also dressed differently than the ones from Tolbanna. Since the floor was just unlocked, there were only a few players roaming about the area.

When they reached the town square, where the teleport gate to the floor was also located, the sun had already set. Asuna excused herself there; she said something about having her weapon and gear refined by the local blacksmith and that she'll just meet up with Alice and Eugeo later on.

"Well, it's just the two of us again" Alice mused to herself, but was also heard by Eugeo. The blonde turned to her companion with a smile. "Why don't we have dinner then call it a night? There's a restaurant right beside the inn anyway"

Not having anything better to do, the boy nodded and let Alice lead the way. Unlike when Asuna was travelling along with them, the two walked to the said restaurant in complete silence. Alice gazed at the sky above her as they walked, captivated by the seemingly infinite number of stars that twinkled in the night sky. Eugeo did the opposite; he had his eyes trained to the ground again, finding the cracks of the floor to be a more fascinating sight…or maybe he just wasn't aware of the spectacle of heavenly bodies above him.

When the two reached the restaurant, they sat themselves on a table for two by a window and ordered their food. They were the only players in the restaurant, which direly embarrassed Eugeo and amused Alice to no end. It was expected as they just cleared the floor hours ago (during around 1300 hours). People won't start filling up town until maybe tomorrow or the day after. Only a few of them out of the thousands of players trapped in SAO fought the boss after all.

Since Eugeo was too shy to start a conversation, Alice did. They talked about the events that took place during the boss fight. Once again, Alice bombarded Eugeo with a salvo of apologies, going as far as muttering (almost rapping) incoherent "I'm really sorry"s and bowing in front of him. Eugeo just kept saying that it wasn't her fault and nearly fell out of his chair once Alice bowed in front of him.

It became really _freaking_ frustrating for Eugeo. One minute, Alice would apologize and he would brush it off, then they would proceed to talk about a different topic or two. Then Alice will bring the incident up again and will try to apologize. Then they'll switch to a different subject. Then she'll apologize again. She did this around three times. The only thing that stopped her from doing it for a fourth time was the arrival of their meals, which Eugeo was utterly thankful for.

The pair ate in silence Alice and Eugeo finished their meals quickly—all the fighting and travelling they did today depleted all the energy they had. They, for a lack of a better word, ravaged their food. In a matter of minutes, they were already out the door. They entered the inn and rented their own rooms. Once they had their respective keys, Alice turned to her companion.

"You should go ahead and get some sleep. I'm sure it's been an awfully tiring day for you" Alice advised.

"Yes, it has been. You should rest too"

"Yup, I will in a little while" Alice answered. Eugeo nodded and turned to walk up the stairs. "Oh, and Eugeo" Alice's voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned back towards the blonde to hear the rest of her sentence. "Thank you for protecting me today. Even if I did drag you along…you stood by me and kept me safe. I really appreciate that" Alice thanked with a grateful smile on her lips.

Eugeo just nodded again "you're welcome" and turned around to walk up the stairs to his room.

When he entered his room, he sat down on the small sofa across the bed. He closed his eyes and leaned his back further into the rather comfy piece of furniture. He began to ask himself what he would do next. He was tired, but not tired enough to go to bed. He was bored, but not too bored to do anything crazy. Then he kept thinking.

Bingo.

He could use this time he had to himself to think about his decision. The sooner he could come up with a decision, the sooner he'll be able to end his dilemma. He might have already spent too much time in this game without having a clear plan of action. He stood up and stretched his limbs, preparing to head out again. However, when he glanced at the window, he caught sight of Alice's blonde hair. His curiosity piqued; he walked over to the window to see what she was doing.

Eugeo saw her walk towards the direction of the town's gates, to where they came from before arriving in town. He raised an eyebrow; what could she possibly have in mind, going out at this time of the day? Eugeo quickly shrugged—it was none of his business. Alice had to do what she had to and he had to do what he had to. With that thought, Eugeo headed out to a place where he knew no one would disturb him.

Eugeo headed to the west of Urbus. While Alice and Asuna were talking earlier, Alice mentioned that there was a savanna area to the west of Urbus that was littered with high-level, buffalo-type monsters. Since there were only a few players in the floor and that there were none who were probably strong enough to fend off the monsters in the area, Eugeo figured that he would be the only player in the area. If he dies, well, that's just bad luck. The boy thought it was better to risk his life for a chance to come up with a decision on his dilemma than stay in town where they may be distractions.

The blond boy reached the entrance of the savanna to the west Alice spoke of. To the side, there was a giant tree beside a large boulder that overlooked the nearby area. The boy figured it would be an excellent spot to settle himself in and collect his thoughts. He easily climbed to the top of the tree—he did have an active childhood, so it wasn't that much of a challenge at all.

When he reached the top, he sighed and leaned against the tree's humongous trunk. He turned his gaze upwards to the night sky. This time he didn't miss the beautiful, starry sight. Eugeo felt the corner of his lips tug upwards—it's been a long time since he went stargazing. His old habit never failed to make him feel at peace and in control of himself. The boy lost himself in appreciation for the night sky.

About an hour later of immersing himself in the silence of his surroundings and the beauty of the sky above him, he heard an ear-piercing growl break him out of his reverie. With wide eyes and a surge of alertness, he snapped his head to the source of the noise. He summoned his sword and took a closer look at the direction of the noise he heard. He kept blinking, trying to get a clearer picture of the scenario.

Three monsters were circling a figure as the beasts were growling in pain and being hit in turns. Eugeo leaned forward a little. When his eyes were able to focus, he let out a silent gasp.

There stood Alice, moving as graciously as a dove, punishing the poor monsters with relentless strikes from her sword. From the distance, it looked like Alice was simply dancing to the beat of soft jazz music. She made fighting look like an art…all of the sudden. Eugeo gripped his sword and prepared to rush to his side. As soon as the thought registered in his head, he held himself back.

What was wrong with him? Alice didn't need his help…or at least it looked like she didn't. She can handle herself just fine for sure. She's a much more experienced fighter than him after all.

For the next few minutes, Eugeo was unable to focus on anything else but Alice. He watched as she eliminated every foe in her sights. Eugeo tried to relax and gaze at the wondrous stars again, but simply couldn't. Not when Alice was still around.

So the night went on, with the two of them continuing what they were doing—Alice kept up her blood dance, while Eugeo kept watch from the distance.

One as aggressive and gracious as ever

The other as passive and wary as ever

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. If you did, I have some good news; I'm halfway through the next chapter and should be able to update very soon (given that I don't get drowned in school requirements). Please keep up the support! Also, please leave a review as I take your feedbacks very seriously. I want to make this enjoyable for you all of course LOL. If you have any questions, please sent me a PM or leave a review and I'll address them when I update! Thank you for reading and have a good day!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Partial Decision

**A/N: Hello everyone! It's certainly been a while, and obviously I wasn't able to update as early as I promised. For that I apologize; the past few months have been crazy. Seriously, the world's spiraling out of control and shit's just been nuts. Anyways, enough about that; another reason why I wasn't able to update was because I had some sort of internal conflict regarding my college course. I'm already a junior in college and I'm having thoughts about shifting. For the past few months, I've been trying to come up with a decision on whether I should push through with shifting or not. Sadly, to this very moment, my mind's not made up yet. Just thought I should give you guys a glimpse on what's happening to me since the last time I updated this story. Fanfiction's one of the only things that is keeping me sane right now. This story really provides me a platform to express my thoughts and emotions freely. That being said, please bear with me, I will try to post as many chapters as I can before Christmas break ends. Thank you for your continuous support and please don't give up on this; I'll do everything I can to finish this fanfiction. Now, on to review responses!**

 **Review Responses**

 **Q-Chan: Hey! Thanks for reviewing! Thank you for the kind words, and please do stay tuned! Also, I feel the same way—I like the original Alice Schuberg more than Alice Synthesis Thirty. The Alice Synthesis Thirty became just another member of Kirito's harem…quite disappointing since Alice in my opinion had so much potential as a character.**

 **NET: Hey! Thanks for reviewing! I appreciate the kind words, especially since I really am planning on making this fanfiction as realistic as possible, at least in terms of character development. However, I do want to clarify that the chapter focused mainly on Eugeo as part of his character development, this next chapter focuses on another character hence the vibe will hopefully be different. As for Eugeo's feelings, you'll just have to stay tuned, which I hope you will haha!**

 **DaManWOFear: Hey! Thanks for reviewing! Stay tuned to find out! XD Anyways, thank you so much for reading and I do hope you keep doing so! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **gemmysaur: Hey! Thanks for reviewing (seriously, you're such an awesome person)! Wow…my only response to your first point is that…I AGREE SO MUCH THAT IT ALMOST HURTS HAHAHA. But seriously, I personally hate how the other girls (Lisbeth, Silica, etc.) were developed as characters in the anime/manga. I perfectly understand, and as a response to your expectation of me characterizing the girls differently, don't worry, I intend to do just that and to hopefully not disappoint you on that. Solid points on character development, I will do well to remember all of them. Thank you for the kind words! Perhaps you noticed, I try to write as much detail as possible, hence each of my chapters are around 6k-7k words long (lol). Oops, sorry about that; honestly it's so hard to proofread every single sentence especially since my chapters are long. And maybe I do have some grammatical errors on this new chapter (sorry in advance HAHA) but I'll try my best to be on point for as much as I can with my grammar. Well, the awkwardness will only grow further between them…I dunno, I really like writing this Eugeo in my story; I personally find it difficult to write him as canon Eugeo since he acts so much like Kirito imo. Again, thank you for the kind words and for tuning in this fanfiction since chapter 1. I really do appreciate it and I hope you continue reading!**

 **Oh and thanks to user AnimangaLoverFE for following and adding this story to his/her favorites! Now, on to the story!**

It was a fine, sunny morning. The sun was up, blessing the world with its glorious shine. There were birds chirping as they flew across the clear, blue sky. There were more players roaming around town today than there were yesterday. Most of them roamed around town, enjoying the sights. Some of them were already hoarding most of the items sold on the shops as to prepare for future quests. Overall, it was a nice, busy day out in the settlement of Urbus.

Among these busy people, were the two teens sitting on a bench across the fountain near the town square. One of them was a blonde who was trying to explain the mechanics of SAO's friend list to her companion. Alongside her was a blond trying his best to comprehend the rather alien terms she was giving him.

"Essentially, if I add you to my friend's list, we'll both have access to certain information about one another. Data concerning our locations, our health bars and our statuses will be available for our viewing. Also, we'll be able to send each other private messages when we're not together. Think of it as a next-generation cellphone" explained Alice.

Eugeo nodded with his eyebrows raised "Oh, now I get. You could've said that the first time around"

Alice rolled her eyes "I didn't think it was _that_ hard to understand. Fine, I'm sorry. I'll try to be as basic as I can be with my explanations"

Eugeo resisted the urge to roll his own eyes. But she _was_ helping him after all, so there's no reason for him to act like an unappreciative douche. He simply nodded in gratitude. "Thank you" he said sincerely.

Alice smiled. Eugeo's uptightness was far too amusing. Before she could tease him about his behavior, a deep voice cut into their conversation.

"Excuse me, you two" both Eugeo and Alice turned to the source of the voice. There stood a man that looked like in his early thirties. He had long gray hair that went past his shoulders and was held together by a pony tail. He had a large built—his muscles were tightly hugged by his black/red top. He had large, gray eyes that stood out from his flawlessly-chiseled face. On top of all that, he stood over six feet tall, making him look like some kind of terminator. "You were both part of the party that cleared the first floor, am I correct?"

The teens exchanged a glance before turning their gazes back to him. "Yes, sir…we were" replied Alice.

The man shot them a friendly smile "Please, no need for formalities. My name is Heathcliff, and I'm planning to start a guild of floor clearers. I heard about your phenomenal performance during the fight against the Kobold Lord from your other fellow clearers. You seemed to have left quite an impression on a lot of them; that being said, would you be interested in joining us—the Knights of the Blood guild? As I mentioned, we're a guild of floor clearers who want to finish this SAO game as soon as possible. There aren't a whole lot of us yet, so we would be ecstatic if we would have two more formidable warriors on our guild. So what do you say?"

Alice was stunned at the offer, while Eugeo remained as confused as ever. By using context clues from the third grade, Eugeo figured that this guy was inviting them to join a group that's comprised of players who focus on beating floor bosses, just like Alice. He glanced at Alice and awaited her response.

"I-I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I can't give you a proper reply as of now. I'll have to think things through first" Alice replied with a bow.

"Same here" Eugeo added.

The man retained his smile and gave a bow of his own "Very well, if that is your decision, then I respect that. Once you've made up your minds, please do inform me. My fellow members and I are currently staying in a house on the north-western side of town. You can find us there almost all the time"

"I see. Thank you" Alice thanked.

"Well then, I must take my leave. Have a good day, you two" the man nodded and went on ahead.

Eugeo glanced at Alice. The blonde was now staring at the concrete floor beneath her feet. Eugeo asked himself; Alice seemed like the type who would've said yes to an offer like that. She was going to be with a bunch of people who were similar to her anyways. So why didn't she? Before he could go detective mode though, Eugeo shook himself out of it and returned his gaze to his north. It was none of his business, after all.

A few minutes of silence later, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He turned and saw Alice with an apologetic look on her face.

"Hey, I'll have to leave for a while. I have some stuff to take care of. Why don't we just meet up for lunch later at around 1400 hours?" Alice offered.

Eugeo nodded. He had no reason to say no…well, not yet. "Okay"

"You won't get lost right?" Alice asked. Eugeo held himself back from asking her if she seriously thought he was _that_ stupid. Instead, the boy just shook his head in response. With that, Alice got up and flashed him a smile "If you have any questions or concerns, just send me a message via your friends list and I'll reply as soon as I can" Eugeo just nodded again in acknowledgement. "Okay then, see you later!" Alice chirped with a wave and ran off.

Eugeo leaned back against the bench and sighed. So…what to do? Well…he could try reflecting on his life again. But in all honesty, he was miraculously sleepy. Last night, when he saw Alice, he ended up staying in the savanna area for as long as she did…and Alice didn't leave until it was two in the morning. Until now, he doesn't fully understand why he even did that in the first place—he just carried away perhaps.

On a more important note, the words Eugeo and 'sleepy' were rarely used in the same sentence. Perhaps 'rare' might still even be a huge understatement. The blond was pleasantly surprised to find his body craving for more rest. In the real world, the boy had trouble sleeping literally every night. No matter how many mountains of paperwork he accomplishes and how many cups (or pitchers) of Earl Grey he consumes, he could never seem to be drained and relaxed enough to get a good night's sleep. Sure he gets exhausted—any fourteen year-old who deals with clients and employees everyday would be, but he never gets exhausted to the point where he just wants to keel over on his king-sized bed.

As Eugeo had flashbacks of his daily struggles to get more than an hour of sleep, the blond eventually decided to return to the inn to get more sleep. The getting to actually sleep in for the first time in years was too good of an opportunity to pass up. With one final nod to himself, he got on his feet and made his way back to the inn.

When he reached his room, he removed his clothes, shut the binds and got under the covers. Before he could completely settle himself in though, he heard a beeping sound go off. He summoned the player's menu and saw that he had one unviewed message from the administrator. With furrowed eyebrows, he tapped on his inbox and opened the unread message.

' _To all SAO players: to congratulate you on your triumph over the first floor boss, a special boss will spawn at the heart of the savanna area on the west side of the Urbus settlement on the second floor. This special boss will drop a rare type A weapon—the Howling Fang which will surely increase your chances of survival. Also, the last hit bonus drop is a key item that is necessary to access a legendary sword that will be incorporated in the game through a patch in the near future. Your valiant efforts have allowed you to conquer the first challenge; let us test your courage once again. However, do hurry; the boss will disappear by tomorrow morning, along with its rare drops. Beware of the monsters on the aforementioned area…and happy hunting!'_

Eugeo didn't think too much of the message. He wasn't even sure if he was going to stay go through with this game yet, plus the sheets were already seducing him to unconsciousness. With a clear mind, he shrugged his shoulders and went to sleep while the sun was still up for the first time in what felt like a lifetime.

It was already late into the afternoon when he woke up. He rolled over to check the time and found out that it was already past three in the afternoon. He lazily checked his inbox if he had received any messages from Alice, as it was already an hour past their set meeting time. He was mildly surprised to see that his inbox was empty.

Eugeo scrolled over to check on Alice's location. One look was all it took to send him into panic.

' _Alice (Level 17)/ HP: 217/1699_

 _Current party members: N/A_

 _Status:_ _ **CRITICAL HP**_

 _Last known location: Western Wastelands, Second Floor'_

Eugeo hastily got out of bed and put on his gear. He made a mad dash for the wastelands to the west of town.

Along the way, he had one question in mind: how could Alice be so reckless? What caused her to go to the wastelands when the admin just announced that it was a very—Eugeo's eyes widened.

Alice was going for the boss.

On her own. He doubted she would be with anyone else.

What if something happened to her?

Without completely being aware of what he was about to do, he ran as fast as he could to the nearest weapon shop and prepared to head out to what was known as the most dangerous place known to SAO players at the moment.

Meanwhile, a couple of miles to the west, Alice panted heavily. Right after she received the message from the administrator about the special boss, she defeated as many fiends as she could in the area to get to level 21. It took her around twenty minutes to do so and when she was all set, she rushed to the wasteland area to the west of the Urbus settlement to claim the rare items the admins spoke of. Getting those rare items will certainly make life much easier for her. The sooner she can get stronger, the sooner she can complete this game. The sooner she can complete this game, the sooner she'll be with her family again.

The sooner she'll be with her beloved little sister again.

At the moment, Alice found herself on a neck-and-neck duel with the special boss. The blonde teen was exhausted—she had been trying to defeat this damned creature for over three hours now!

A few meters across her stood a large, white tiger. It had black lines all over snow-white fur. Its paws were adorned with long, razor-sharp claws that could seemingly tear down human flesh in mere seconds. The same could be said about its bloodthirsty fangs, two of which went about an inch past its chin. It also had a pair of beautiful, sea-blue eyes—eyes that resembled that of Alice's own ones.

The said creature roared a battle cry and got into a charging stance. It was then that the white tiger's form began to emit a bright, green light. Alice glanced at the battle log on her right and watched out for any buff that the boss would cast on itself.

' _Eddgan (Level 17)/ HP:3391/12357_

 _Status: Regen (HP ^), War Cry (DMG^)'_

Alice let out an exasperated sigh. This battle was only getting more and more difficult. The blonde teen began to understand why she had been the only player in all of Aincrad to try her hand against this boss since the announcement regarding its existence a few hours ago. Had she known that this thing would take ages to beat, she would've farmed a few more levels before engaging it in combat.

The blonde swiftly reached behind her to summon a potion from her inventory in what felt like the millionth time. Once the small bottle was on her hand, she quickly downed the yellow liquid and felt re-energized. She checked her health bar and saw that her HP went back into the yellow-green zone. She thought she would've beaten this monster by now. Curse its stupid regen ability. But still; at least she was hanging on.

Alice's train of thought was derailed when she heard another battle cry from the monster in front of her. The white tiger roared and rushed Alice. The teen gripped her sword tightly and prepared to deflect the boss' oncoming attack, her petite form adopting a defensive stance. When the tiger leapt up in the air, its claws glowed red.

Alice's eyes widened in realization that the boss was using a skill on her and not just a regular attack; the blonde was unable to react in time and was hit by the boss. The boss' skill broke through her defense and sent her flying a few meters backwards before she landed face-first on the ground.

Alice hissed as if she were in physical pain. She moved her hands and pushed herself off the ground. As she stood, she was able to steal a glance at her health bar. The blonde cringed when she saw that she lost over 200 health points. Nonetheless, she was glad she only lost 200; she could've lost over 450 were she not in a defensive stance. While she was unable to parry the boss' attack, she did manage to reduce the boss' overall damage output on her.

She narrowed her eyes at the boss and re-focused herself into the battle. She had to beat this thing.

After some self-encouragement, Alice prepared her sword and charged at the boss. Her sword began to glow as she prepared her usual chain of sword skills to even the odds a bit. Before she could reach it, the boss clawed at her in an attempt to cancel her chain. But this time, the blonde was prepared for it; she easily dodged the attack aimed at her. The boss' attack left it vulnerable to a combo. Alice grinned, for she found her opening. This thing doesn't stand a chance now.

"HYA!" she cried as she began her rampage.

' _Cross. Left. Cross. Thrust.'_

Alice prepared to execute the beginning of the end of her combo a.k.a. her finishing move. She jumped, spun 360 degrees midair and brought her sword above her head. Her combo should slice off, at the very least, 760 points of health from the boss.

When she reached the end of her jump-spin and was about to bash her sword downwards, she was caught off guard yet again. Alice froze and let out a gasp before she was clawed across her exposed abdomen. The hit cancelled her skill and rendered her helpless. Then the boss roared and tackled her with such force that she flew a couple of meters away before landing on her back.

Alice groaned in pain as she struggled to get back on her feet. She used her left hand to push herself off the ground while she used her right hand to plant her sword on the ground to use as a crutch to help her stand. When she was on her feet again, she looked in front of her and saw that she was at least five meters away from the boss. She cringed inwardly; that boss hit her really hard. The blonde glanced at her health bar again.

' _Alice (Level 16)/ HP:201/1699'_

She hissed a silent curse—her health bar was already orange, borderline red. Calmly, she reached behind her again to summon a potion.

Seconds later, there was still nothing materializing on her hand. The blonde's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why wasn't anything happening? That was weird. She should still have quite a number of potions with her. Heck, she brought over forty of these things; there was no way she was already…

With panic creeping up her veins, Alice hastily opened the player menu and rummaged through her inventory. It couldn't be. She _had_ to have at least a couple more potions.

Alice's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she saw her inventory.

She had no more potions left.

The panic that the blonde initially felt quickly turned into anxiety. There was no way. Had she really been fighting the boss for that long? But she had over forty potions!

The blonde thought about pulling out of combat and returning to town to restock on potions. Once she has a good amount of healing items, she should probably be able to try her best against this thing again.

Her gamer self quickly shot down her idea though. If she left this area, there's the possibility that someone else would try and defeat this boss as soon as she left since it was already fairly low in HP. That means she'll have used all her healing items and wasted over three hours of her time on nothing. No. She wasn't going to give up the special drops this boss has.

But she couldn't leave either, even if she had a teleport crystal. If she left this area and no one engages the boss in combat, it will simply regain the health points it lost from Alice, just like any other boss in any other MMORPG out there.

She cursed silently to herself again. She should've brought more than forty. But—

She was unable to continue on with her thoughts as she heard another growl from the boss. The boss' frame began to glow once again; but this time, instead of it glowing green, it glowed red. Alice, beginning to feel her own anxiety consume her, checked the battle log again.

' _Eddgan (Level 17)/ HP: 4192/12357_

 _Status: War Cry (DMG ^),_ _ **Protect (DEF ^), Berserk**_ _'_

Alice gulped. The boss' berserk status meant that its attack time recovery is currently much shorter than usual. In other words, the boss, in its current state, can land up to twelve consecutive hits without any interruption.

Alice gripped her sword tighter. She had no choice. She couldn't leave…because either someone else will jump at the chance at beating this boss or every health point it has lost will simply regenerate.

She was going to have to hold her ground until its statuses wear out.

And since her health was already low, she can no longer afford to get hit. She was going to have to literally dodge for her life.

The boss growled again and charged at her. Alice gasped and prepared herself. The boss jumped up in the air, its figure still emitting a crimson-red hued aura, to execute its aerial combo.

Alice dove out of the way. When she got back up on her feet, the boss was already right in front of her with its claws about an inch away from her face. Thanks to her lightning-quick reflexes, she was able to dodge again. Alice jumped away then the boss chased her again.

For the next few minutes that cycle went on—the boss would claw/swing/jump/ram Alice, but Alice would either jump out of the way or dodge at the last second. Then the boss would try to hit her again and she'll just manage to save herself.

At one point, when Alice prepared to jump out of the way again, she was tripped by a rock. The blonde gasped as she landed face-first on the ground. She frantically turned around to check where the boss was and instead saw that its claw was right in front of her, ready to pierce her face and end her suffering.

The teen froze in horror.

Suddenly, she saw all of her memories flash before her. From the day she went to kindergarten to the day she bought her NerveGear. She faintly recalled reading up on how people die—some said that during the moment of his/her death, the person's memories would replay like an old-fashioned movie before his/her life was completely taken.

So this was it then.

This was the end.

Perhaps she had a little too much confidence in her abilities. Some beta tester she was.

She was never going to see her friends again.

She was never going to school again.

She was never going to see her family again.

She was never going to see Selka again.

If this was to be her end…so be it. The blonde closed her eyes, trying to recall her most precious memories in life. She would hold on to them until the moment of her demise.

A second passed.

Then another.

And another.

And another.

Alice's forehead creased. Why wasn't anything happening? The blonde slowly opened her eyes.

The boss' claws were still in front of her, but they weren't moving. Her sight refocused and she saw that there was a blade in halting the boss' razor sharp claws from touching her. She slowly craned her neck to see where the blade was coming from. When she saw what…or rather who it was coming from, she gasped.

There stood a blond boy. His usually clueless, stoic face was hardened with determination. His eyes were narrowed, his teeth were clearly gritted behind his lips and his bluish-green eyes were gleaming with courage.

In a swift motion, Eugeo swung his sword upwards and used a sword skill on the boss. The boss was quick enough to deflect Eugeo's attack with its claws, but was nonetheless sent a few feet backwards. When the boss staggered backwards, Eugeo rushed in front of Alice to shield her from the boss' view.

Without turning his eyes away from the white tiger, Eugeo held his left hand out to Alice. Alice, who was still in complete disbelief, quickly shook her head to snap out of her trance and stared at Eugeo's hand. Encased in the boy's gloved hand, was a small bottle containing red liquid.

Alice's eyes widened. That was a novice potion, meant to restore around 600 points of health. It was an item that was meant to be used by low level players to instantly refill their health bars. Since the maximum HP of most low level players is low, a novice potion could bring their health bar to 100% in one use. Each player is given one to start at the start of the game. Alice already used hers hours ago when she started fighting the boss. It appears Eugeo obviously didn't…and he was giving his to her.

Without a moment's hesitation, she took the bottle from the boy's hand and downed it in one gulp. She saw her health bar go back into yellow-green. It wasn't full, but it was better than having her health bar on orange. Now, she could take at least two hits from the boss.

The boss growled again, alerting both teens. The boss charged at Eugeo, seemingly upset with him for interrupting a kill. Eugeo met the boss' attack with his sword. His sword emitted a blue light before colliding against the white tiger's claws. The boss quickly recovered and swung at Eugeo again. In the blink of an eye, Eugeo was able to cast another sword skill to parry the oncoming attack. Then Eugeo performed the reversal; he swung to the side and brought his sword back to swing upwards. The boss got hit on the chin and howled in pain.

As if she were injected with an energizer, Alice sprung to action. She grabbed her sword and dashed for the boss. She prepared a sword skill and once she was in range, let the boss had everything she got. When her combo finished, the boss initiated a counterattack but Eugeo jumped in front of Alice and was able to parry all of its attacks flawlessly.

That continued on for the next ten minutes—the boss would attack, Eugeo would parry and stagger the boss, Alice would unleash her combo, the boss would try to counter, but Eugeo was always one step ahead and was able to completely protect his companion.

When the boss was down to its last few hundred health points, it let out an earth-shattering roar then its form glowed red again. It charged at both Alice and Eugeo at the speed of light. As if it teleported, it found itself right in front of Alice in what felt like less than a second. The boss swung, but was unable to hit Alice.

Eugeo followed the boss' movements to deflect its attacks. It swung right, he swung left. It swung up, he swung down. It thrust forward, he swung right. During its final move, the boss growled and used both of its claws to claw at Eugeo, its motion forming the letter X. Eugeo swung upwards to deflect the attack, but the boss' special move was far too strong.

The attack went through, hitting Eugeo as if he wasn't trying to defend against it. The boy was sent rolling a few meters in the opposite direction. The attack broke not only the boy's newly-purchased sword, but also ripped through his top and his gloves. However, since the boss' special move consumed a lot of energy, its action recovery time left it defenseless. Alice jumped at the chance and executed one last sword skill combo to finish it off.

When Alice finished her combo, the boss let out one last growl and collapsed on the ground. A few seconds later, its lifeless body exploded into millions of tiny shiny particles. A congratulatory message flashed on the spot where the boss died, but Alice didn't even notice for she was already dashing towards Eugeo to check on him.

Eugeo groaned. He felt like the living daylights just got knocked out of him (or maybe it was just instinct). He groggily tried to sit up. Before he could completely settle himself, he felt someone grasp his shoulders. He blinked repeatedly before turning his gaze towards Alice who was looking at him with shimmering eyes.

Alice was frightened, even more frightened right now than she was earlier when her own life was on the line. Eugeo was alive, right? This wasn't just her imagination. Another person couldn't have died because of her, right? She glanced at Eugeo's health bar…and her heart nearly dropped.

As if sensing her thoughts, Eugeo whispered "I'm fine. Don't worry about me"

"How can you say that?! Look at how much HP you still have left!" shouted Alice in anger, pointing a finger at his health bar.

Eugeo did as he was told. He only had around seventy HP.

Alice wanted to slap him, but since his HP was so low, she decided not to. Of course she was relieved that he was alive. But what if he…perished? What if he suffered because of her? She would never be able to handle it if someone died because of her. If that happens…then that would be worse than her losing her own life. The guilt would forever be in her heart if that was the case.

"How can you tell me to not worry about you? You could have died if that boss did as much as POKE you and you're telling me that I shouldn't worry about you?! ARE YOU STUPID?!" screamed Alice at the top of her lungs, a tear slipping down her left cheek.

Eugeo's eyes softened upon seeing Alice tear up. A minute of silence passed, Alice and Eugeo just staring into each other's eyes, Alice grasping his shoulders tightly while tears cascaded down her cheeks one by one, Eugeo with no clue as to what to do.

Eugeo was completely dumbfounded. A girl was looking into his eyes while she was crying, utterly worried about his well-being as he came close to death just minutes ago. What should he do now? Does he tell her he's going to be okay? Perhaps not, since he got yelled at the last time he did. So does he just keep looking at her? Does he hold her hand? Does he pat her head? Does he squeeze her back? What in the hell was he going to do?

Eventually, Alice ceased crying. She let go of his shoulders to wipe her tear-stained cheeks. Seeing this as a good time to act, Eugeo accessed his inventory and summoned a lesser potion on his hand. When the bottle materialized, he held it right in front of Alice. After Alice finished wiping her cheeks, the first thing she saw was the bottle of orange liquid Eugeo was holding out to her.

The blonde had a sudden urge to laugh. Eugeo was really stubborn, wasn't he? She just scolded him for neglecting himself then he follows it up by offering her a potion instead of using it for himself. Alice looked into Eugeo's eyes and cupped Eugeo's extended hand.

"You take it" Alice said, trying to remain serious, as she guided Eugeo's hand back to his chest.

Eugeo shook off her hand and shook his head. He held the potion bottle back out to her. Alice rolled her eyes, grabbed the potion, grabbed his other hand and sat the small bottle atop his palm.

Eugeo sighed "Take it. I still have lots on my inventory" he pleaded and held the bottle back out towards Alice.

Alice narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms "Fine, but I'm not drinking that until you drink one yourself"

"Fine" Eugeo relented with a sigh. Alice finally took the bottle from him then looked at him expectedly. He summoned another potion on his hand and returned Alice's stare as if saying "Happy now?"

Both uncorked the potion bottle at the same time and drank together simultaneously. Alice kept her eyes on her blond companion, making sure that he indeed consumed the liquid that would increase his health points. After that, the two shared a few more bottles of potions until Eugeo's HP bar was full and Alice's was already in the green. The two looked at each other and nodded—they should head back since it was already dark.

The pair made it back to Urbus in silence. There weren't many monsters on the way, for some odd reason, giving the two some quiet time to themselves. Both were consumed in their thoughts. Alice busied herself with thoughts about what could've happened had Eugeo not been there for her. While Eugeo, on the other hand, was still pondering on what he should do about his dilemma in life.

The two had a silent agreement to stay by the fountain near the town square, the same place where they were earlier in the morning. The two sat on the same bench and cast their gazes toward the floor. For a long time, neither of them spoke.

Surprisingly, it was Eugeo who spoke first.

"Did you get the special items?"

Alice gasped. She forgot all about that. She was so concerned about Eugeo that she forgot about the drops. She hastily checked her inventory and sure enough, there they were.

' _Howling Fang x 1'_

 _'Star Pendant x 1'_

She sighed. She risked her life for these two items. They better be worth it…

"Yeah…I have them here"

"That's good"

Another minute of silence passed. Alice glanced at Eugeo. He was just staring at the floor, but for some reason, she could tell that he wanted to hear more from her.

She sighed and turned to him guiltily. "Look, I'm so sorry for-"

"Don't apologize" Eugeo interrupted her "I'm sure you had your reasons"

Alice closed her mouth. Then it hit her. Perhaps Eugeo wasn't looking for an apology (even if she so badly wanted to give him one like she did yesterday). Maybe he was looking for an explanation.

An explanation as to why she went out to face the boss on her own.

Well, maybe not exactly. They barely knew each other after all.

Still, he's probably wondering what in the hell's name she was thinking when she decided to face the boss on her own. She sighed and figured that she could tell him since he did save her life.

"I…I wanted to become stronger…" she started. When Eugeo wasn't interrupting, she continued "I wanted…no…I want to finish this game as quickly as possible. I figured one way to do that was to get stronger as quickly as I could…be it through leveling all day, hunting for rare items, or whatever. When I received the announcement earlier, I was out on the savanna trying to level up. I was hooked as soon as I read that the boss was going to drop rare items. So I got ready, restocked on potions and headed out. I knew that pretty much no one was going to go hunt for the boss since not many of us even know about the second floor considering we've only unlocked it yesterday. I thought it was going to be an hour-long fight at the most. Sure, I knew the fight wasn't going to be a cakewalk…but it turned out to be a thousand times more difficult than I expected. I got overconfident with my abilities…and I just went in without thinking"

Alice glanced at Eugeo's direction again; the boy looked like a frozen statue. His eyes were still trained on the surface beneath his feet and his facial expression did not change at all. Taking his lack of reaction as a sign to continue, she sighed and kept going.

"I don't know, I guess…I was just really homesick. I know we're only at the second floor and there are still ninety-eight floors to clear to finish the game, but the administrator described the items so well that they seemed like the must-have items in order to clear the game. I just…" she began shake mildly when she reached this point of her explanation "I missed everyone…my family…my friends…I want to see them all again. I want to hold them and tell them how much I love them…I want to finally go on that trip to France my father promised since last summer…I want to keep visiting art galleries with my mother…I want to do everything my friends and I wrote on our bucket list…and I…I…" Alice released a deep sigh to calm herself "I want to…" Alice bit her lip as tears formed in the corner of her eyes. She couldn't say it. Mentioning _her,_ the most important person in her life, would reduce her to a crying mess. So she stopped. She knew this wasn't the time to think about _her._ Doing so would only make her want to clear every floor in this cursed game even more. She couldn't bear to miss _her_ more than she already does.

As she struggled to keep her emotions in check, she waited for Eugeo to judge her, to scold her, to tell her how pathetic she sounded, to tell her how arrogant she was and how she deserved to almost die. Instead, Eugeo remained silent. Once her tears dried up and her trembling stopped, she slowly opened her eyes to turn her gaze towards him. He was still staring at the floor, his face devoid of emotion.

Moments later, Eugeo simply nodded. Alice honestly expected more out of him, but it seemed like that was all she was going to get…a nod. A minute later, Eugeo got up and told her that they should get back. He also suggested that she get some sleep after such an exhausting day. Alice wiped her eyes and agreed. Thus, the pair headed to the inn where they rented rooms at.

When they arrived at the lobby, the two found themselves lost in each other's gazes again.

"Rest up. Good night" Eugeo whispered with a bow.

Alice returned the bow. She looked him in the eyes again and whispered "Thank you, Eugeo…"

Eugeo nodded and walked back to his own room.

Later on, the blond found himself leaning against the wall beside the door to his room. His head was leaning against the wall while his eyes were closed. After around an hour of thinking, reviewing and analyzing everything…he opened his eyes.

He's only known Alice for about a couple of days, almost a week. No, she is not important to him. No, he doesn't care about her deeply. Saving her was something that any decent human would have done. But thanks to her and her seemingly timely interruptions of his suicidal thoughts, Eugeo was able to realize that perhaps he still might have some sort of purpose in this virtual world. Now that he has a chance to look back at everything that transpired earlier, he realized that he was sort of…well…gifted when it comes to protecting a person. His fencing skills (which were forced upon him by his parents) have more or less allowed him to be a 'defensive presence' on the battlefield.

That boss that he and Alice had fought earlier was no pushover. The beast definitely gave Alice a hard time when she fought it on her own before he intervened. In fact, Alice had so much difficulty in fighting the boss off that she had almost died. MMORPGs are obviously nothing new to Alice; he understood that from the moment he met her. That means that when Alice struggles against an opponent, that opponent was not something/someone that an ordinary gamer/player can handle on his/her own.

Yet because of him, Alice was able to defeat the boss. Sure he protected her, but Alice did all the fighting by herself. The fact that Alice was able to defeat the boss with his protection meant that he was not completely useless in this world. He never imagined that he would be able to hang in the air with online gamers since he never bothered to play video games in his spare time.

His experience earlier opened his eyes—he could protect those in danger. In this world where death in-game meant death in real life, people like him would be needed. Someone who can save lives and keep the hopes and dreams of those around him/her alive will always have a role in a community. He would never be useless. He is a hundred percent sure that every player stuck in Aincrad right now is just like Alice; everyone wants to go home, to go back to their loved ones, to move forward with their lives. No one wants to stay trapped inside a video game, no matter how awesome of a game it is.

So maybe, he still had a job to do. He can help people stay alive. He can help people hold on to that hope of getting out of Aincrad alive. He's still not sure if he wants to go back to the real world considering how painful and difficult his life is despite his financial stability. But that didn't mean that he should forget about those around him. His emotional breakdown at the beginning where he contemplated suicide made him forget that every person's choice should have a communal aspect attached to it. If a person decides only for himself, then that's when society crumbles. He realized that to an extent, he can't afford to be selfish right now. He has a bad life back at home, but perhaps those around him have better lives than him and deserve to live it out to the fullest. His selfishness may only prompt others to do the same. As much as he wants to end his life, he would rather live a painful life and help others than prioritize himself.

So does he live on? Or does he end the line here? He needed to decide.

So he did…partially.

No, he was not going to fully invest himself in this world just yet, but he wants to see how things would turn out first before reaching a sound conclusion. He nodded to himself. He's going to see first if there are other people like Alice who would eventually require his help. If people call for his assistance and he can provide it, then why not do so, right?

Maybe this is for the best, who knows? There's only one way to find out. Besides, he's starting to get the hang of things around here anyways.

The boy slowly opened his eyes.

By pushing through with decision, he will no longer find waking up every morning and realizing he's still in Aincrad to be annoying.

Life was a cruel irony…of all the people who could've been given what seemed like the ability to save the lives of others, it just had to be someone who was suicidal and emotionally unstable.

With a deep sigh, he sent Alice a message via his friends list. After sending his message he entered his room and prepared to review the mechanics of the game.

While Alice slept in her room, her chat box blinked with a message…a message that would change the course of her life here in Aincrad…and maybe even in the real world.

' _Hey, have you thought about considering that man's offer to join his guild?'_

Meanwhile, on the wasteland area where the two defeated the white tiger boss a few hours earlier stood a figure wearing a black-coat. Said figure was wearing his hood, making it unable for anyone to catch a glimpse of his face.

The figure underneath the hood smiled.

This certainly makes things more interesting.

 **A/N: Whew, that was the longest chapter I've ever written. I'm sorry if this one was too long and dragging; I didn't want to divide it into two chapters since I wanted to have a faster story progression. Plus, like I mentioned, the reason why I write long chapters is to be as detailed as possible, so that it won't be too difficult to visualize what's happening. Anyways, that's it for chapter 6! Thank you for reading and please stay tuned! I'm almost done on the next chapter, but since anything can happen, I won't make any promises on when I'll update. I do plan to post as many chapters as I can during Christmas Break, so please stay tuned! A little preview: the next chapter has something to do with Heathcliff (wink wink) and more characters from the Alicization arc will be introduced as well. As for Kirito, you won't be seeing him until chapter 8 (sorry!) since a time skip will take place by then. All that being said, thank you for reading and I'll see you guys on the next chapter! Oh, and Happy Holidays everyone!**


	7. Chapter 7: The Knights of the Blood Oath

**A/N: Hello again, everyone! Sad to say, Christmas break is already over. I know I said I would try to update this story as much as I can, but I've been undergoing therapy for the last few weeks hence I haven't had much time to dedicate to writing. Christmas depression is a bitch, but meh, it's whatever. On a lighter note, thank you so much for all the support you guys have given me so far! Your comments and feedback really mean a lot to me—they show me that some people out there give enough of a rip about my work to leave an opinion or two about it. So, thank you so much you guys! Please keep up the support and please bear with me for not updating as fast as some of you would like. This chapter, without all the details and all, is really short. The only thing that made this go around 6.5k words in length is the amount of detail I put in it. This chapter is really all about character development. In this chapter, I will introduce two characters from the Alicization arc that, in the light novels, shaped Eugeo to who he would ultimately be as a person. This is very important for the plot as well, since in this chapter, I will show you some of the future conflicts that Eugeo would have to face in this story. Anyways, I'll stop there—don't wanna reveal too much now, do I? Now, on to review responses!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **NET: Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm sorry to disappoint you, but…you know what? I'll just let you read this chapter to see what I mean HAHA. But to address your comment, I really believe that the best way for Eugeo and Alice to move forward in SAO is for them to join a guild. Looking at their canon personalities, both Eugeo and Alice are seemingly natural-born helpers. They enjoy being around other people and being of assistance to those in need. It's just that they enjoy each other's company a lot more. Plus, the both of them joining an SAO guild in my opinion would be the easiest way to put them in a position where they can help others and all that. As for Eugeo 'falling in love', you'll just have to stay tuned** **(which I hope you would do HAHA). Thank you for the kind words and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **gemmysaur: Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad to see you again! Aw, I really appreciate that. You're one of the nicest, if not THE nicest reader I've ever had HAHA. That is an excellent point about Eugeo and Kirito's similarities! However, my logic behind making Alice instead of Eugeo act more like Kirito is because in the light novels, Alice and Kirito have similar personalities. They both like to bend the rules, as opposed to Eugeo who, as you've mentioned, is more docile and more rule-abiding. Eugeo and Kirito will get together more in the future chapters though, I can assure you that. Also, the main problem I have with Eugeo and Kirito's relationship is that in many ways, as you've pointed out, Eugeo is also a lot like Kirito in several respects. I don't want to write them together yet because then Eugeo might just turn into another version of Kirito, hence I wanted to write Eugeo with Alice first as a way of distinguishing him from Kirito with regards to how he acts around a girl and a potential friend. Your theory is…ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! To be quite honest though, I never thought of it that way. I tried seeing things from the player's perspective—it's only been a day since the first floor was cleared and most of the clearers were shaken up from the casualties they sustained; as a result, no one would go for the special boss. As for Kirito, well…let's just say I decided to leave out some details on his whereabouts hehe. If I remember correctly, yes, I did intend the boss to hit Alice with an uppercut-esque maneuver. Oh, it's absolutely no problem! Please continue to give me your insights/comments. I really appreciate them. I kind of see what you're getting at. I'll do my best to keep that in mind when I write battle scenes in the future. But to be honest, I really suck at writing fight scenes, I just try my best. I actually meant it as a sort of delay, like what you said. I just worded it wrong, now that I look at it. Sorry about that** **As for Alice being like Kirito, again, I think they're more similar than Eugeo and Kirito are. And in the light novels, it's clear that Alice had a special relationship with her sister, Selka. It was Selka's name that elicited a response from Synthesis Thirty after all, and sadly, not Eugeo's. And I actually didn't notice that with Kirito also, or at least I didn't when I was writing the previous chapter. It was sort of a challenge to write Eugeo in this one since I originally planned for him to make a decision much later on. But I believe Eugeo's kindness will really push him to help others in any way he can, even if he's still confused about his own life. When I read the Alicization light novels, it really made me see that Eugeo loved the people around him (especially Alice), more than he loved himself, so that's what I kept in mind as I wrote the previous chapter. I promise Kirito will be back in the next chapter! And oh, don't worry about it. I really enjoy reading your reviews! As for the person in the ending…well, let's just say he has some plans in mind about our favorite blondes. Thank you so much and here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy this one. Oh, and I hope your holidays were awesome!**

 **DaManWOFear: Thank you for reviewing! Please keep up the support! Here's the next chapter for you!**

 **Now that's out of the way, on to chapter seven!**

Eugeo heaved an exasperated sigh. He was not aware that the simple act of taking up someone's offer to join a guild in the MMORPG realm came along with an initiation of some sorts. Seriously, aren't initiations only for those who are trying to get into a guild? He and Alice weren't trying to join a guild; they were _personally invited_ by someone from a particular guild. Shouldn't they automatically become members of the said guild upon acceptance of the invitation? What was the point of inviting them if they would still have to go through an initiation regardless?

He resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearby wall. He should've seen this coming. This was what he wanted…in a sense. He made a decision to remain in this virtual reality…and that entails conforming to the practices and even some beliefs, to an extent, of those present here. He knew, or rather he should know what he signed up for. This initiation process that made little-to-no sense to him is one of the many aspects of virtual reality gaming that he has to accept if he were to become a denizen of Aincrad. Even so, while the boy completely understood why he has to put up with all this and much more in the future, he couldn't help but sulk.

At least his sulking was veiled by the emotionless expression marring his features.

While Eugeo was busy sulking-but-still-looking-like-someone-who-was-totally-calm-and-in-control-of-himself, his companion, unknown to him, was staring at him. Alice gazed at her blond…acquaintance, wondering what could possibly be going on in his head right now. As she stared at him, the blonde recalled all the events that transpired earlier from the moment she was roused from her slumber.

When she woke up, she was greeted with an unread message from her chat box. With a raised eyebrow, she opened the message and read its contents. It was a short message; it didn't even take her five seconds to finish reading it. But it took her around ten minutes to let everything completely sink in.

To be honest, she was a little uncomfortable about being in the presence of the blond boy at the moment. It's not because he repulses her; no, not at all. It's simply because she still feels horribly embarrassed about what happened last night.

When she lay in bed last night, she did her nightly habit of reflecting on all the events that took place during the day. Upon doing so, embarrassment and shame threatened to consume her almost immediately. She recalled how vulnerable how she had been and how she ended up crying…in front of Eugeo.

She didn't hold back at all; she slapped herself on the forehead, muttering curses under her breath.

How could she have shown a vulnerable side of hers to someone she barely knew?

But…was there really anything wrong with what she did? It wasn't like he laughed at her for opening up about her personal life. In fact, he was unusually understanding for someone she had just met.

Her eyes softened as she watched Eugeo stifle a yawn with the back of his hand. She did not expect to meet someone like him this early on. She knew that perhaps in a month or two, she'd be able to find a friend that she could rely on. Instead, it's been a little over a week and she had already found someone who appeared to be a good person and if they keep sticking together, a potential friend. Still, that didn't mean that she trusted him completely. He may have saved her, but it's still too early to tell what kind of person this Eugeo really is.

But then, where do they stand? Are they friends, or just acquaintances? She didn't know, in all honesty. She doubted that they were still mere acquaintances after her emotional breakdown last night; acquaintances don't usually open up to one another like she did to him the previous night, but she also wasn't sure if she could already classify him as a friend. But if he wasn't her friend, then why did she open up to him? Sure, she opened up to a lot of people, but that was because she has a lot of friends back at home. Even if she was as outgoing as any teen out there, she never opened up to people she didn't trust or considered as true friends.

So why DID she open up to Eugeo? Was it because she thought of him as a friend already? Or was it because he really deserved an explanation since he saved her from an untimely death?

Perhaps it was the latter. She was overcome with emotion because she didn't think that someone would come and save her in this virtual world full of strangers. So maybe that's why she opened up to him…yeah, that should be it. They weren't friends yet…at least not in her point of view. But perhaps friendship between them was inevitable. They are no doubt on their way to becoming good friends; relationships deepen when people suffer together, after all.

"Welcome, you two! I apologize for the wait; I had to make sure that everyone is present for your 'initiation' into the guild" a gruff voice explained. The two blondes turned their gazes forward and saw the gray haired man from yesterday.

"No problem" Alice brushed off with a polite smile.

Heathcliff smiled gratefully before bowing his head "Thank you for understanding. Please follow me"

Alice went first with Eugeo trailing right behind her. As they followed Heathcliff, Eugeo kept glancing around his surroundings. They were meeting inside what appeared to be someone's residence. The establishment was too small to be an inn, and the place was too meagerly decorated to accommodate more than just a handful of people. If this was the 'headquarters' of the guild then the group really doesn't have a lot of members, just like the man told them.

They entered a room on the far left side of the house. The moment they stepped inside, Eugeo and Alice felt multiple sets of eyes staring at their direction. On the middle of the room was a large round table with eight chairs around it. Five of the eight chairs were occupied, so the blondes assumed that the three other seats were for them and the gray haired man they were following.

Heathcliff led them near the table before stopping. He stepped aside, turned to his fellow guild members and gestured to Eugeo and Alice with what looked like a proud smile.

"Good day, everyone! I am proud to introduce to you two of the players who played pivotal roles in clearing the first floor" Heathcliff announced.

"Hello, my name is Alice" Alice declared politely with a bow.

Eugeo did the same "And I am Eugeo"

The five other guild members introduced themselves, each of them standing up from his seat during his turn to speak. They would introduce themselves and bow afterwards, similar to what Eugeo and Alice did. The first three members looked normal and gave off friendly vibes with the way they smiled and talked. The last two however, made Eugeo feel a little wary about joining the guild.

"I'm Humbert. Nice to meet you" a seemingly friendly, warm voice greeted. Eugeo and Alice turned to the owner of the voice and saw a boy who appeared to be a couple of years older than them. Eugeo eyed the young man warily. He had rich, shiny gray hair matted into clumps that extended just below the back of his neck. After staring at his hair for a few seconds, Eugeo almost squinted; it looked like the guy's head just got pulled out of a barrel of oil after being submerged in it for days. Not even his family's wooden dining table would be that shiny despite the fact that his butler cleans and shines it every day. The young man wore an outfit that sort of resembled that of Eugeo's—the only difference being that he was wearing a gray top, gray gloves and black pants with silver linings. He looked fit, his clothing tracing the outlines of his toned muscles. He stood about six or maybe even seven inches taller than Eugeo. His sharp facial features were defined by his thin gray eyebrows and his round gray eyes. And now that Eugeo had a better look at him, he was pretty sure that this young man was around seventeen years of age.

Alice acknowledged him with a nod and Humbert shot her a smile. Then the grayhead turned to Eugeo and shot him a cocky grin. There and then, Eugeo knew that this Humbert was not someone to be trusted. He inwardly debated with himself if he should convince Alice to rescind their acceptance of Heathcliff's offer to join their guild and just grab her to run away from these creepy players. But then that might damage their reputation…which the blond boy didn't want this early on.

"And I am Raios. It's a pleasure to meet you, Alice" another smooth and friendly but borderline-seductive voice interjected. Eugeo and Alice turned their gazes to the source of the rather enticing sound and upon seeing him, reacted very differently. There stood another tall young man. He had long, thick, and wavy blond hair that was a few inches longer than Humbert's. Compared to Eugeo, Raios' hair was about three to four shades darker in terms of color. His large green eyes and thin brownish eyebrows embellished his handsome face. And like Humbert, he wore a gray top, but instead he had on black gloves and his black pants had crimson-colored designs on them. He also appeared to be athletic, perhaps even more athletic than Humbert. His clothes defined his chiseled muscles perfectly. In other words he was the perfect example of classic Grecian beauty. His looks alone would be enough to send the ovaries of typical teenage girls into fangirl mode. And Alice was sadly, no different.

In response to his 'pleasant' greeting, Alice shot him a charming smile before giggling lightly. Her reaction elicited a wide, flirty grin from Raios, the eighteen year-old-looking young man clearly not holding back from expressing his satisfaction at the blonde's cuteness. To top it off, Raios he shot her a suggestive wink, as if telepathically asking her out on a date. Alice's smile widened, feeling a surge of heat spread across her cheeks.

When Raios turned to Eugeo, his friendly expression shifted into a smug, arrogant one. "And of course, Eugeo" Raios continued with his greeting, a small, crooked smile replacing the flirty grin that was on his chapped lips earlier when he introduced himself to Alice. In the eyes of Alice and the others, Raios looked like someone who was awkwardly trying to get acquainted with another person. But Eugeo knew better. In a split second, the small smile on Raios' face turned into an evil grin. His green eyes narrowed and his thin eyebrows furrowed, his visage twisting into a…for a lack of better word, demonic one. Eugeo's eyes widened when he realized what Raios was trying to do. The older teen was trying to send him a warning; Raios was saying something along the lines of "watch your back around here".

Eugeo shook his head and blinked several times to check if he was just seeing things. Sure enough when his vision cleared up, it's as if Raios' face did not change the whole time—he still had that cold, smug look on his face and that annoying little smirk on his lips. It was like nothing ever happened and that split second was just a figment of his imagination. However, something in his gut was screaming at him to not be deceived by this silver-tongued fellow.

While most people usually dismiss their gut feelings, Eugeo has been raised his whole life to do otherwise. Since he had been training under the tutelages of world-class fencers for pretty much his entire life, the blond learned at an early age that he should always trust his instincts. This time around, his instincts were strongly urging him to not trust this man, so he wouldn't.

Eugeo narrowed his eyes. The memory of the the exchange between Alice and Raios just a few moments ago flashed in his mind. Suddenly, the blond boy became ten times more worried. Raios may have looked like just another teenage boy trying to leave a lasting positive impression on a girl like Alice, but Eugeo immediately realized that things weren't just that simple. He recalled how Raios eyed his female companion a while ago and inwardly cursed.

Raios has some sort of ulterior motive for Alice. For some reason, Eugeo was a hundred percent sure that this was the case. Raios wasn't just trying to put 'moves' on a girl he found attractive. For one Raios looked like he was already eighteen years old, while Alice looked like she was only fifteen. That would be…weird. Sure, a three-year age gap isn't too big, but this case was different, Eugeo was sure of it. Eugeo had a strong feeling that Raios has darker plans for his blonde companion. Whatever the hell this guy has in mind, it's too early to tell. But one thing is for certain; he would have to watch out for Raios, especially when Alice is around. There's no telling what he might do to Alice if he lets his guard down even for just a second.

Great. The first day after he decides to continue life here in Aincrad and he already has someone that he constantly has to be careful of. Then Eugeo caught a glimpse of Humbert who was seated right beside Raios, another evil smirk on his lips. Eugeo resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearest wall. Correction: he has TWO people to watch out for. And from the way they acted, Raios and Humbert appeared to be friends, making things more difficult for Eugeo.

He had a strong feeling that he would one day have to deal with the both of them…by himself.

But until then, he would wait and observe their every move.

After deciding on doing so, Eugeo, not wanting to seem suspicious, acknowledge Raios' greeting with a polite nod.

Heathcliff smiled. "Good to see you all getting along. Now that you two are already acquainted with the rest of us, I now formally welcome you to the Knights of the Blood Oath guild! We would typically ask new recruits to gather a few items for the guild first to test their skills before formally inviting them to join our guild. But since you two have already proven your fighting capabilities during your run-in with the Kobold Lord, there is no need for us to test you further. Welcome to our guild!"

The others clapped and cheered upon Heathcliff's announcement. The tall, gray haired man made several gestures with his hand on his personal game menu as he prepared to send the two teens a guild invitation.

A few seconds later, a notice popped up in front of Alice and Eugeo. There was a short message—a single sentence and below it were two rectangular buttons, a green one on the left and a red one on the right.

' _You have received an invitation to join the guild "Knights of the Blood Oath"_

 _Accept or Decline?'_

Alice and Eugeo exchanged a look and a nod before pressing the green 'accept' button at the same time. The cheers became louder from their new fellow guild members. Alice cheered along and smiled, glad to finally see some positivity from other players. And of course, Eugeo just remained silent, not allowing anything to prevent him from keeping his senses on high alert.

Minutes later, Heathcliff dismissed everyone and left, saying something about trying to recruit more members to join the guild. Eugeo turned to Alice but before he could speak, someone else beat him to it.

"Hey there, Alice" greeted Raios smoothly with a hint of seduction in his voice. While he spoke he extended a hand towards Alice for her to shake.

Alice blushed and smiled "Hi" she greeted back before shaking Raios' hand with her own. Both gave each other a firm shake…well, maybe Raios applied a little more pressure than Alice did. Raios smirked, enjoying the way Alice's soft skin felt against his to which Alice giggled at in response.

"Why don't we go upstairs so I can show you around?" Raios offered, his voice still having that sketchy tone

"Sure thing!" Alice, being the oblivious girl she usually is, nodded happily.

Raios' smirk widened "Woah, no need to get super excited. But I must say; I'm really happy that you decided to join our guild. Things will be a lot more fun now that you're here. I don't know if you noticed, but we have some pretty boring people here in the guild" the blond joked. To his satisfaction, Alice giggled louder and the blush on her pale cheeks became more prominent.

"Hey! We're not boring!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" dismissed Raios with a roll of his eyes, amusing Alice further. He turned to Alice before gesturing to the stairs. "Well then, shall we?" he asked, that weird tone in his voice still present.

"Right behind you!" Alice exclaimed and began to follow the older blond upstairs.

Raios and Alice began engaging in small talk as they walked away from everyone else. Eugeo took a step forward to follow the two upstairs but felt an arm slide around his neck to rest on his shoulder before he could move further.

"Hey Eugeo! Now that you're with us, why don't we play a game? You up for a game for cards?" someone beside him offered.

Eugeo turned to the person and saw a brunet whom he recognized to be one of the three unsuspicious guild members from earlier. If his memory served him correct, this young man introduced himself as Hiko.

"I-I don't really play cards, sorry" Eugeo apologized with a pout. He quickly thought of a way to go upstairs without looking too suspicious. From the corner of his eye he saw Humbert eying him warily, so he should find a way to push the right buttons. He better hurry too. He was feeling a little nervous at the moment because Alice is alone with Raios.

"Um, do you guys have a bathroom around here?" he asked shyly. He inwardly facepalmed a second after the words slipped from his mouth. Oh well, it was better than nothing.

"Yeah! Upstairs, fifth door to the left" Hiko instructed.

Eugeo nodded gratefully and walked casually (more like tried to) upstairs. He could feel Humbert's stare on his back with every step he took. When he reached the stairs he stopped caring; Humbert can suspect all he wants, Alice's safety was more important at the moment.

He walked towards the bathroom door per Hiko's instructions. He stopped a few feet away from the door when he heard voices—no doubt belonging to Alice and Raios. He glanced to his left and sure enough, there they were. Only they weren't fully visible…when Eugeo realized what the setting looked like, his eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets.

The door to the room Alice and Raios were in was almost fully shut save for a tiny crack on the doorframe which allowed anyone from the outside to catch a small glimpse of their figures. Alice was standing in front of a window and looked like she was staring at something outside. And Raios was on her right sitting on a…medium-sized bed.

Eugeo immediately leaned against the wall beside the doorway and began eavesdropping.

"Are you a beta tester?"

"What's it to you?"

"I'm just asking a question"

He heard Raios let out a deep sigh "Yes, I am"

"Then that makes two of us"

"That's a relief! My good friend and our fellow guild member, Humbert is actually also a beta tester. It's really hard being a beta tester these days, especially with what happened during the boss raid on the first floor. Who was that beta tester anyways? This Black Swordsman that I've been hearing about?"

"Oh, he's…he's an acquaintance"

The images of a certain black haired swordsman flashed in Eugeo's mind. No doubt they were talking about Kirito. For a second the blond let his thoughts drift, but when he realized that he had a job to do, he quickly returned to eavesdropping.

"An acquaintance, eh? Do you have any idea where he is now?"

"Not really…he went his own way after we defeated the boss"

"I see. We beta testers aren't the most likeable bunch to begin with, but I fear that because of the kind of attitude I heard he displayed in front of the other players, the community is going to hate us even more from now on. Because of his arrogance and selfishness, our lives as beta testers just became a hundred times more difficult than it already was"

"I'm sure he had his reasons" Alice defended in a stern tone which surprised Eugeo "Plus, it's not so bad, at least not yet. You, Humbert, and I even managed to find a guild to join. I don't think everyone's against _all_ beta testers at this point. I can tell that our other fellow guild members aren't beta testers, and they've been nothing but welcoming towards us"

"You have a point there. Hmm, maybe because of what that Black Swordsman did, all the attention is on him. That probably explains why I didn't hear anything negative about you during the boss raid. All I heard about you was that you were one of the four players who led the charge and the final assault that eliminated the boss. Given that you're also a beta tester, I supposed that the others would look down upon you as well but they didn't. I guess what that guy did isn't so bad after all, but in the end, he'll have to pay for his rashness. Even if he meant well, he didn't have to act like such a douche"

"I hope nothing bad happened to him"

"Mhm…"

About five minutes or so passed. Eugeo would occasionally take a peek at the door crack to ensure that his ears wouldn't fail him and that Alice was still safe. Actually, Alice and Raios didn't move from their positions the entire time they talked. They talked about a lot of things, but mostly about SAO in general. There weren't any suspicious subjects that were tackled by the two which relieved Eugeo but did not make him any less suspicious of Raios' true motives.

Shortly after Alice and Raios decided to rejoin the others downstairs. When stood up to exit the room, Eugeo dashed to the bathroom as quietly as he could and shut the door, leaving a crack open to see if the two were really going downstairs and not somewhere else. To his relief, they did and he heard the voices of the others to confirm that they were no longer alone.

Eugeo leaned against the door and sighed.

It was going to be a long journey to the end of this game.

After he used the bathroom he headed downstairs and saw that everyone was scattered around the place. Humbert and Raios were playing cards, Hiko was relaxing by the couch talking with Alice, and the others weren't around. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Hiko asked him what took him so long. He dismissed the question with a claim that he received a message from someone and had to read and reply to it. Alice looked at him weirdly but he just shrugged at her.

"Hey, do you want to accompany me to the plateau?" Alice asked Eugeo.

Eugeo didn't have to be asked twice. He wasn't feeling comfortable at all in this place. "Sure"

"Do any of you want to come with us?" Alice offered Hiko, Raios and Humbert. Eugeo prayed that no one would go along with them…or at least not Humbert and especially not Raios.

His prayers were answered as the three young men shook their heads to decline Alice's offer. Alice shrugged his shoulders and stood up to leave. "Alright, let's go"

"You two take care, especially you, Alice" Raios bade farewell with a friendly grin. Alice smiled back and nodded before turning on her heels to leave.

When they saw the pair walk out the door, Humbert looked at Raios in the eyes and spoke in a low tone.

"He was listening in on you two earlier" he informed, making sure that Hiko wouldn't hear him.

Raios' grin turned into a wicked one, focusing his eyes on the cards in his hands "I know. I heard his every move. That boy couldn't stay quiet to save his life"

"So what do we do about them?" Humbert asked worriedly.

Raios remained unfazed "Don't worry. We'll find a way soon enough. That Eugeo brat wouldn't be too difficult to deal with, I can assure you that" he finished with an evil grin.

Alice and Eugeo reached the plateau about thirty minutes later. Alice took a minute to teach Eugeo about SAO's 'even-share' feature. They partied up and began to search for monsters roaming around the area. Before they engaged an enemy, Eugeo spoke up.

"Why would you want me to share your EXP with me?" he asked curiously.

Alice turned to him and smiled "Why wouldn't I? If I'm leveling up, I might as well help you while I'm at it"

Eugeo still didn't understand but decided to not press the issue further.

They started working on the monsters in the area. Alice would do the attacking while Eugeo would do the protecting. They managed to clear the entire field in under an hour because of how well they worked together. It reached a point where looking for enemies became a task because of how few of them remained.

Midway through their leveling session, Alice glanced at Eugeo's focused expression. She smiled to herself. Life was so much easier with someone to rely on. In fact, she didn't even think about trying to equip the weapon she got from beating the boss yesterday because she was doing so well without it.

However, what surprised Alice the most was not the fact that they worked incredibly well together but rather it was the very manner in which they were doing so. Apart from checking up on each other's HP and Alice explaining some of the game's mechanics to Eugeo, the two did not utter a single word to each other. If there was an enemy in the vicinity, Alice would engage it and Eugeo would be prepared to parry any form of attack directed towards her. They didn't have to say anything to each other; no callouts, no warnings, no heads-ups, no nothing. When Alice executes a move, Eugeo would know the exact moment when she would be vulnerable and would jump in to protect her and vice versa. They knew exactly when to 'switch' places to help each other out.

The pair continued to slay enemies around the plateau for the next few hours. It was already around three in the afternoon when they decided to head back to Urbus to have lunch together. They travelled back in complete, comfortable silence.

As they walked down the rocky path back to the settlement, Alice checked her player log to see how much more EXP she needs to level up. She levelled up only by one level but she wasn't complaining. It was one of the easiest levelling sessions she's ever had in an MMORPG game, so she was definitely satisfied with the results. She needed about another three hours of farming before she could level up again assuming she would be on her own. If she were to be with Eugeo again, it would take her probably twice that amount of time.

Eugeo, on the other hand, was just staring into the distance while trying to come up with ways on how he would keep Alice safe from both Raios and Humbert (especially the former). Then again, he wasn't really in a position to do any scheming whatsoever—he simply lacked information as to what Raios really wanted from Alice and how Humbert fits into the equation. From what he was able to observe during his earlier run-in with the two, it appeared that Raios was the more aggressive, more cunning, and more devious one—it showed in the way he jumped at the chance to isolate Alice and have a little 'chat' with her as soon as the guild members dispersed from the initiation session. And while he did not see the two interact much when he and Alice were around, he had a feeling that somehow, between the two of them, Raios was also the one 'in command'. Judging the way he acted and the way he seemed to command Humbert's respect, it was almost apparent that Raios had some degree of authority over Humbert. The blond inwardly smirked. If that was the case, then things were going to be a little easier (but still difficult nonetheless) for him—that meant that their motives and goals would be the same, or if not, at least interrelated. That makes them more predictable altogether, which will hopefully make things easier for Eugeo when it comes to protecting Alice from whatever it is they're planning.

As Eugeo kept thinking to himself, Alice, who had just finished inspecting her inventory and player log, stole a glance at her blond companion. For a moment the blonde thought about starting a conversation with him, but the boy's stoic expression made her do otherwise. She simply stared at his face, several thoughts running through her mind as she did so.

Why did he have to look so serious all the time? Why did he almost-always look emotionless? Why was he so introverted? Why did he barely talk? Why did he look so in control of himself even if he was stuck in a foreign world without a tidbit of knowledge on how to live in it? Why was he so unusually skilled when it came to protecting her? Why did he keep helping her even if she never asked for his assistance?

She had so many questions in mind about the blond boy but didn't have an answer to a single one of them. It frustrated her. She hated being kept in the dark. But then again, she could always try asking him personally…she glanced up at the boy's bluish-green eyes. He looked so focused, so _determined._ The blonde teen wondered what was going through her companion's own mind.

Alice simply stared at Eugeo's eyes as they continued their walk back to the Urbus Settlement. A few minutes passed before the blonde gasped upon realizing what she was doing and abruptly shifted her gaze away from Eugeo's uniquely-colored irises. Why was she staring at his eyes so intently? That was so embarrassing! Fortunately for her, Eugeo didn't notice a thing and simply continued walking forward. It wasn't her fault that his eyes looked so mysterious. The blonde swiftly shook her head as she fought down a blush. What in the world was wrong with her? After composing herself, the blonde decided to clear her mind and just focus on what she was going to do moving forward with this game.

About half an hour later the pair arrived outside a restaurant just across the inn where they were staying at. Upon entering the rather large establishment, they noticed that the place was packed with people; there were only around two or three vacant tables. While Eugeo couldn't care less, the sight was a pleasant surprise for Alice—this meant that more players have already arrived in the second floor and will eventually join the clearing force. She smiled; at least some people were starting to get their acts together in some ways.

The pair went ahead and occupied a table for two near the southwest corner of the restaurant. A few moments later, an NPC waitress came over to take their orders. After the two teens finished giving their orders to the programmed entity, the waitress bowed respectfully and left them in silence.

Alice shifted her gaze to meet with Eugeo's. She leaned forward and rested her arms on the smooth surface of the wooden table between them. With a friendly smile, she opened her mouth and spoke.

"What do you think about our new guild?" she asked.

Eugeo raised an eyebrow, not expecting to be asked such a question. Then again, perhaps Alice was just in a conversational mood like she often was. The boy decided to entertain her this time.

"I think they're okay" Eugeo murmured in reply.

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting a guild invitation from anyone so soon. But I do like our new guild though. Everyone seems really nice"

"Yeah, except Raios and Humbert" Eugeo whispered to himself, but was faintly heard by Alice.

"What was that?" Alice asked with a raised eyebrow.

Eugeo quickly shook his head "Nothing"

Alice kept her eyebrow raised, clearly unconvinced that her companion simply muttered rubbish. However, deciding not to press the issue further, she just shrugged her shoulders and believed him.

"Do you have any plans after lunch?" Alice inquired, changing the topic of their conversation.

"Not really" Eugeo answered curtly. "I would probably just study the game manual"

"Why don't I help you with that then?" Alice offered.

Eugeo's lips stretched into a small smile as he shook his head "No thank you. I appreciate it, but I wouldn't want to burden you with something so…mundane"

Alice rolled her eyes "You're not going to 'burden' me at all. I'd be happy to help. It's the least I can do for you after everything you've done for me. Besides, it's not like I have anything to do either; I'm done leveling for the day"

Eugeo's smile was replaced with a frown "You don't have to repay me for anything. Any decent human being would help another person in need"

Alice grinned smugly "Which is exactly why I'm going to help you. You want to understand the game better and I can help you do just that"

Eugeo stubbornly shook his head. "No, it's okay, really. I don't want to bother—" his protest was interrupted when Alice glared at him.

The blonde crossed her arms and frowned "Are we really going to go on and on about this? I just want to help you"

Eugeo's eyes widened, taken aback by the blonde teen's words. He didn't stand a chance against her if she was glaring daggers at him the way she was. With a defeated sigh, he nodded in acceptance. His nod turned Alice's frown upside down to a pleased smile.

The two continued to chat regarding a variety of topics, with Alice doing most of the talking, of course. About half an hour later, the pair found themselves sitting beside one another on a wooden bench in front of the town courtyard fountain. With a grunt from Eugeo and a mocking smirk from Alice, the two started 'reviewing' SAO's mechanics from the very start. At first, Eugeo tried to simply read the game manuals under the 'Player Support' menu and browse through several FAQ threads found across various online forums. With his reading the boy hoped that by the end of the day, he would be able to have a firm grasp on a concept or two about how things work in this virtual reality he's currently living in.

But it was not meant to be. An hour into reading, the boy was already scratching the back of his head in confusion. While some of the instructions according to the game manuals were clear, it was quite difficult to visualize how they were to be performed. The more the boy read, the more befuddled he became. There were also times when the answer to an FAQ did not tie up at all with an instruction from the game manual. In other words, everything Eugeo read was meant for players who already had a general idea as to how virtual reality video games work. While he was able to survive the first week or so of SAO thanks to Alice, he still didn't know enough about the game overall to understand the game manuals and guides effectively.

Fortunately for him, his blonde companion noticed his utter bewilderment and decided to step in before he did something stupid like completely misunderstand everything he read. Unknown to Eugeo, Alice was watching him the whole time. From the moment he began reading through the game manual about 'What is SAO?' (which was the _most basic_ manual that not even the worst of 'noobs' were advised to read), Alice's ocean-blue eyes were trained on his face. She was able to witness the myriad of emotions that crossed his visage. His facial expression went from emotionless, to confused, to some semblance of comprehension, to confused again, to annoyed, to irritated, then to borderline angry. As Eugeo's emotions flashed in front of her, Alice couldn't help but giggle from time to time, especially during the times when Eugeo pouted every time he got confused over something. His pout, the blonde teen decided, was just absolutely, unequivocally…cute. And as much as it disappointed her to get rid of such a cute sight, she knew she had to help him if he were to make it all the way to the end of SAO.

Alice began by politely asking him what he could not understand out of the guides and game manuals. After Eugeo pointed out everything he had trouble understanding, Alice proceeded to carefully explain each and every game aspect she was asked to. Alice also used a more practical approach; instead of just explaining each concept to Eugeo, she would demonstrate some of the game's features for her companion to see right after she explains them.

About an hour later, Eugeo was doing much better. He had managed to go through half of all the game manuals available and a number of FAQ forum threads. This time around, he was finally able to understand what the damned guides were pertaining to and some basic ins-and-outs of SAO as a virtual reality MMORPG.

The two decided to take a quick ten-minute break. During the intermission period, the two of them began talking casually, with Alice doing most of the talking, as usual. Eventually, after some chit-chatting and a few giggles (from Alice), Eugeo urged Alice to continue with their 'lessons', to which the blonde nodded to in reluctance.

As Alice prepared to explain a game feature Eugeo was asking about, a thought crossed her mind which caused her to freeze in place. The question regarding the nature of their relationship came into her mind once again. She glanced up at Eugeo's focused expression. She remembered the one question she kept asking herself over and over earlier: were they _friends_ now? She really wasn't in the mood to talk to herself again, so she decided to find out for herself, albeit subtly.

"All this reading and studying means that you're here to stay, right?" Alice asked with a friendly grin etched on her lips.

Her question snapped Eugeo out of his thoughts. He shifted his gaze so that his bluish-green orbs met head-on with Alice's ocean-blue ones.

It was then Eugeo did the unexpected.

He joked around with her.

With a tiny, playful smirk playing on the corner of his lips and his eyes dancing with mirth, he replied "Ask yourself"

Alice's jaw dropped. It took her a few seconds to fully comprehend what was happening. Eugeo, her often stoic, emotionless companion, was capable of humor?! Well it wasn't really humor…but it was close enough! When she got over the shock of hearing Eugeo's playful response, she let out a laugh that in Eugeo's opinion, sounded like that of an angel's. At that moment, she finally had the answer to her question.

"Hey! No need to be such a smartass about it!" Alice shot back before playfully hitting him on the arm.

Eugeo simply shook his head as he fought down a smile at his companion's antics. "Yeah, yeah, now come on. Help me out with this"

In Alice's eyes, everything was clear now.

Yep, they were definitely not mere acquaintances anymore.

The only question was…

…did Eugeo think the same?

 **A/N: And there you have it! I hope you guys enjoyed. Like I said in the intro—this chapter is all about characterization. So, Humbert and Raios have arrived! What do you guys think? Did you like it? Let me know through your review or PM! It was sort of weird writing this chapter, I have to admit, especially the bedroom scene. Oh and if you're confused, the establishment where all the guild members were found is some sort of a house. It isn't Heathcliff's though—it belongs to the other unnamed guild members I left out. To clarify, Heathcliff, Humbert, and Raios are staying in different places and not where the guild initiation took place. As promised, Kirito will be back next chapter! Also, there will be a time skip in the next chapter. The characters will already be in a different floor by then, so stay tuned! I only request that you be patient with me—I am uncertain as to when I'll be able to update again. I plan to reread this entire fanfiction before updating again, just to refresh myself on everything. I want to make sure that this story is progressing in the way I want it to. Please give some me time, I don't really want to rush anything. Also, please keep reading and supporting me, it really means the world to me! Thank you for reading and I'll see you guys on the next one! Have a great day!**


	8. Chapter 8: Mug Side Quest Part 1

**A/N: Hello everyone! Yes, I'm still alive! It's certainly been a while, but I did mention in the last chapter that I was going to take some time off to reread and review all the chapters I've written so far so that I could have a better idea on how I should steer this story towards the ending I have in mind. To an extent, I did get a better grasp on things, but I'm still not 100% confident that I can finish writing this story all the way to the end. Aside from that, I've been really busy with school the last few months, hence I haven't had the time to even think about updating this story, but rest assured, I am still planning on actually finishing this whole sort of project of mine. An important aspect of the story that I wasn't able to explain in the previous chapter is the existence of the KOTB guild (which, as you've read, is the guild which Alice and Eugeo decided to join). I forgot to point out that in the anime and light novels, the Knights of the Blood Oath guild did not exist until after the boss raid on the 25** **th** **Floor. I sincerely apologize for the oversight; I honestly thought that the guild was created some time after the 1** **st** **Floor boss raid. I watched the anime and was only able to read the Alicization arc light novels, so I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable SAO fan out there. Again, I apologize. But as you may have noticed, I did not edit the previous chapter. The reason behind this is because I want Heathcliff's act of recruiting seven members at the beginning of the game as the basis that he will use to determine who the sub-leaders of the KOTB guild will be once it starts recruiting more members. From this point on until after the 25** **th** **Floor boss raid, KOTB will not be recruiting any more members. I will explain this further in the next chapter. Also, I know I promised that Kirito will be making an appearance this chapter. He will, but just at the end. I decided to split this chapter into two parts, since I didn't want to start writing an 8.5-9k word chapter after not writing for so long. I am really rusty, so I'm sorry if I have grammatical errors. If you guys have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Also, reviews are encouraged and are highly appreciated. Now, on to review responses!**

 **Review Responses:**

 **DaManWOFear: Thank you for reviewing! Original Alice Schuberg for the win! I really liked her character and was very disappointed that we didn't get to see more of her since the author focused more on Alice Synthesis Thirty. That's actually one of my inspirations for writing this story; I wanted to see what I could do with the original Alice's personality. I agree about the Integrity Knights; they remind me of the Knights of the Round in the anime Code Geass where save for Suzaku and his unit, none of the others received that much screen time. I plan to include Bercouili in this story though, so if you like his character, please stay tuned! I'm glad that you see things like that! It's been quite the challenge to get Eugeo and Alice to become their canon selves given the setting of the story. As for Asuna, I'm still thinking about how Alice and Eugeo (especially Eugeo) will grow closer to her. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy reading this next chapter!**

 **NET: Thank you for reviewing! Yes, I will do my best to include as many characters from as many different arcs as I can! You'll have to wait for some Eugeo and Kirito time, since I'm focusing a little more on Alice and Kirito for now. Oh Eugeo will be better for sure! Alice is guiding him after all…hehe. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **Daemon of Wrath: Thank you for reviewing! Aw, thank you for the kind words! I am excited for the anime adaptation as well! For some reason, the Alicization arc has always been my favorite out of all the SAO arcs. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **gemmysaur: Thank you for reviewing, my faithful reader! Glad to see that you're still with me, HAHAHA. But seriously, thank you so much for reading and providing me with feedback after every chapter so far! Hmm, that's actually a great point, but to be honest, I'm not too familiar with the canon personalities of those characters (like Uolo and Kibaou). Unlike with Raios and Humbert, since I was able to read the LNs, I'm more comfortable writing the two. Also because it's clear that Raios and Humbert are perverts and they hate Kirito and Eugeo in the light novels, which is something I will fully exploit as I move further into this story. Lastly, putting Raios and Humbert in KOB just made sense for me given that…well, there are** _ **certain**_ **players in KOB that wanted players dead *wink. Ronye and Tieze will come along shortly, maybe in two or three chapters (or at least that's my plan at the moment)! Oh, and sorry if I'm going to disappoint you but Kirito won't be in this chapter for that much; I PROMSE that he'll be in the next one (part 2 of this chapter). Hmm, I thought about merging the entirety of the Alicization arc with Aincrad, but that would require me to write in a much more technical manner. Following the theory that you just brilliantly crafted, that might have to force me to write a lot of wordy chapters just explaining what certain terms and phrases mean to the casual reader (since I don't think EVERY SAO fanfic reader has read all the light novels). I might have to think about that still. Oops, I didn't know that HAHA. I'm not exactly that familiar with how LAN service goes in Japan, but judging from how word seemed to travel fast around the SAO community as seen in the anime, I thought that there were some types of game forums where players can discuss whatever they want or something like that. Which part are you talking about when you mentioned how you couldn't picture where Alice and Eugeo were when Alice was wondering if they were already friends? (Because that kinda happened a few times in the last chapter HAHA) Regarding how Alice doesn't seem to notice that Raios is flirting with her…well, forgive me for saying this (especially if you are a girl), but most girls who are the same age as Alice as really quite dense when it comes to these sorts of things. It's sort of a stereotype (?) I guess, but even in real life, girls a lot of times think that guys are just "being nice" to them but are actually flirting lol. And an explanation as to why she doesn't notice Raios' flirting but overthinks things is because the things she overthinks about are more important (I mean, Eugeo did save her, so I think it would only be logical that she treats him seriously). As for Eugeo's eyes, I forgot where but I remember reading something about Reki Kawahara's (SAO author) statement on Eugeo's eye color. Iirc, Kawahara said that Eugeo's eyes were closer to green than blue and his eye color being totally blue is just a result of light reflecting off his irises. I could be wrong though, but I based my writing on that. And yep, that's why I just went with blue-green (plus if that's a really** _ **rare**_ **eye color, then that only adds to how special Eugeo's character is HAHA). Aww, thank you so much for the kind words! I really appreciate feedbacks, especially from consistent readers like you! I'm actually pretty excited for season 3! But at the same time, I'm probably going to hate it later on because Alice Synthesis Thirty gets paired with Kirito when she clearly is supposed to be with our favorite blond hero in SAO. Thank you for the heads up! I have the same take as you regarding Alice and Eugeo's voice actors. It would be a little weird to hear Kayano Ai as Alice though, since I always associate her voice with Mashiro's from Sakurasou. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy this next one!**

 **Takagi Akito: Thank you for reviewing! I'm not too familiar with SAO MD myself, but from what you said, there are similarities between Alice in SAO MD and Alice in the light novels. For one, she really IS a very strict character, even in the light novels. However, she is friendly (as far as I know) to strangers, since she's one of the nicest and most talented young women in their village in the light novels. I mean, she is friends with Kirito (a badass rule-breaker) and Eugeo (a timid and obedient dude) after all. Thank you for the kind words! Yep, the romance always goes to Kirito (lol), and the same happened with Alice later on in the light novels. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

 **Well, on to the story then!**

"HYA!" a feminine, yet goose bump-inducing battle cry echoed across the Dagon Forest. The loud exclamation was almost immediately followed by a high-pitched whimper from what sounded like a wolf. As the unfortunate wolf announced the end of its existence to the world, its body, having been drained of all its life force, flopped down to the ground with a loud thud. Upon detecting that a game object had expired, SAO's maintenance systems went right to work. The fallen monster's lifeless body was instantly enveloped by a white light that sought to cleanse the forest terrain of its presence. A few seconds later, the bright light faded, effectively deleting the dead creature's corpse from the world of Aincrad.

Alice stood at ease, abandoning her fighting stance to adopt the more graceful and 'ladylike' one that all those years of etiquette school forcefully hardwired into her very soul. Her grip on the hilt of her sword loosened, her breathing evened out, and her back straightened up. She gestured with her hand to access her current inventory. As soon as the familiar digital window popped up in front of her, she began scrolling down to the bottommost section of her collection of items. Soon enough, her gaze landed on the particular type of item she was looking for.

' _Wolf Pelt x 91'_

She couldn't help but grin. Waking up early today was _totally_ worth it.

The blonde shifted her sights upwards; judging by the yellowish-orange color that was beginning to spread across the skies, the sun was about to rise very soon. This meant that it won't be long before other players, specifically clearers, show up in groups/parties of at least four and start hogging all the col and EXP they can get their limbs on. When that happens, it will only take about two hours at most before the fiend-infested forest turns into a barren woodland where no one would have the chance to get even a single point of EXP under his/her belt. As a result, everyone else who's looking to 'fatten up' will have to wait for a few hours for the monsters to respawn before they can do as much as think about accomplishing anything significant.

Her grin turned upside down into a frown at the mere thought of players trying to 'farm' on this current floor.

Players have become increasingly greedy with regards to col and EXP over the last few weeks. It was apparent that the more floors they cleared, the more people left the Town of Beginnings in the 1st Floor to advance to the succeeding settlements and/or floors. But the influx of players in the following floors proved to be somewhat akin to a proverbial double-edged blade. On the one hand, having more players advance to the upper floors equated to greater manpower on the frontlines—with more bodies to help, defeating monsters and clearing floors have no doubt become easier. This was proven a few days ago during the previous floor boss battle—there were exactly 187 players that participated in the battle against Wythege the Hippocampus (4th Floor boss). It took everyone involved a little over an hour and a half to defeat the boss. In comparison, only around 80 players participated in the struggle against the 3rd Floor boss, and the fight lasted for more than two hours. But on the other hand, the presence of more players also meant that conflict was more likely to arise among them. Disagreements among human beings were natural, but the way they were being handled and settled here in Aincrad…wasn't exactly...well…'normal'.

The increase in number of those who advanced to the recently-cleared floors made it clear that there were at least two different types of players in Aincrad—the 'clearers', those who do not hesitate to dive head-first into combat and destroy anything that stands between them and freedom by any means necessary, and the 'survivalists', those who prioritize staying alive for as long as possible above all else. Due to the difference in objectives of the two groups, it was not surprising that the word 'misunderstanding' was written all over the situation. Members of one group failed to identify with members of the other, and tension was rising fast.

There was an on-going argument over which side should have 'greater rights' over anything and everything that contributes to avatar development (i.e. special/powerful items, side quest completions, greater priority over farming). While it would seem logical that the clearers should have more of a privilege to acquire and utilize game features that will help them become more combat effective (since they were pretty much always on the frontlines), the survivalists argued that they should have the same kind of 'entitlement' so that some of them can eventually become clearers themselves moving forward, thus bolstering their forces. Things were a mess right now. Since the vast majority of SAO players identified more with the survivalists, the clearers had no choice but to resort to their own methods—the clearers began monopolizing all the EXP and col available in basically every accessible terrain in Aincrad so far. And given that most clearers were either hardcore gamers or experienced MMORPG players, the survivalists didn't stand a chance—the latter group had no choice but to settle for the clearers' 'leftovers'. Essentially, instead of everyone working together, people were slowly becoming more and more selfish by the day.

As if making it all the way to the 100th Floor wasn't difficult enough.

She breathed out a sad sigh; she could only imagine how frustrating this game must be for the less experienced players, especially the beginners. Without any guidance from more experienced players, they have almost no chance of making it out of SAO alive.

Her fist clenched in frustration. None of the 10,000 individuals that were imprisoned within Aincrad deserved this kind of life. None of the 10,000 people who only wished to enjoy a virtual reality MMORPG gaming experience deserved to have their freedom taken away from them. But because of the admins, because of _Kayaba Akihiko,_ so many lives have taken a turn for the absolute worst. They were all living in a nightmare…one that could potentially never end…for all of them.

She felt her sudden anger and frustration begin to consume her. Upon realizing so, she shook her head, in an almost livid manner, to recompose herself. She released another sigh. It's been **almost two months since the SAO Official Server Service went online** , **and about six and a half weeks since they cleared the 1** **st** **Floor.** She was still struggling to come to terms with the fact that it will be a long, _long_ time before she'll be able to see her family again, but at least she was doing everything she could to be prepared for whatever the game would throw at her.

Ultimately, she decided that further indulging in her thoughts won't get her anywhere. She was in the middle of a damn forest for crying out loud; she can let her worries and emotions suffocate her later when she's somewhere safe.

Back to her regularly scheduled programming—she opened her mini-map and viewed her current location. As she expected, she was on the western part of the Dagon Forest where the monsters were usually too strong for the average player. Given the existing differences between the clearers and the survivalists, coupled with the fact that she herself was a clearer, she had been very careful with regards to her farming habits. She left the monsters that most players would usually go for untouched and instead focused on those that only high-level players would even think about challenging. In all honesty, she did feel somewhat guilty for being a clearer, but she knew what she needed to do. She can fight, she can contribute to the clearing force—and so she will do so.

However, that did not mean that she was going to act like most clearers. In the eyes of others, the clearers were nothing but a bunch of self-centered elitists who were always looking out only for themselves—other players believed that the clearers were only using their goal of finishing the game in the earliest possible time as an excuse to bully people. She intended to change that. She didn't want to make anyone else's life tougher than it already is. No, she wasn't going to be selfish.

She continued scanning her mini-map. Moments later, her sea-blue irises came across her next destination—the Karluin Settlement. The digital display indicated that it will take her approximately an hour or so for her to reach the settlement on foot. The blonde stole another glance at the skies above her. An hour should be more than enough for her to reach her destination before the EXP and col hoarders arrive in the vicinity. For a brief moment, she considered using a teleport crystal to save herself some trouble, but decided not to since she wasn't really in the middle of an emergency (and teleport crystals weren't exactly cheap, even if she _did_ have enough col to buy a few). With a nod to herself, she turned her body towards the direction of the forest exit and headed out.

The walk back to Karluin was a rather uneventful one. She encountered a couple of monsters, but instead of unsheathing her sword and cleaning house, she simply ignored them and kept walking—she was well aware that other players needed the EXP, col, and loot way more than she did. Plus, letting the monsters be not only required no amount of effort whatsoever, but she also found it slightly amusing to see groups and groups of various fiends gang up on her only to give up a few seconds later when she wandered off too far from the vicinity of their spawn point.

Along the way, she ran into about five different parties of, judging from the way they conducted themselves, clearers. Every player she passed casted her a look of either confusion or suspicion. They were probably wondering what a _lone_ player like herself was doing outside the settlement this early in the morning. Seeing no reason to interact with any of them, she just went on with her business.

She eventually reached the outer gates of the Karluin Settlement. As she stepped within the bounds of the settlement's Safe Zone marker, she briefly surveyed her surroundings and saw that there were more players (around thirty) preparing to head out to the forest to do some 'daily grinding'. Some were huddled around in a circle, presumably discussing their plans and strategies for the day; some were purchasing items from nearby shops, and others were beginning to head outside the settlement borders. There was so much activity around here…so much that she hoped nothing bad would result from it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a nearby item stand on her right. She fully turned her gaze towards the said stand and smiled. Yes, this would do. She walked towards the stand until the window with the option to 'shop' popped up in front of her.

' _Welcome!'_

' _Buy/Sell/Cancel'_

She tapped on the "sell" option to display two other digital windows—her current inventory on the left, and the list of items she wanted to sell on the right. Bringing her right index finger up to the display, she began dragging and dropping the loot items she obtained from her farming session earlier from her inventory to the shop's list. Nothing could stop her smile from widening as she watched the "Total Col Value" of her items increase exponentially. After making sure she had transferred all the items she wanted to get rid of, she tapped the "Confirm" option and finished the transaction.

The digital shopping interface closed upon the completion of the exchange. Alice didn't even bring her raised hand down; she made another gesture, this time to access her inventory. Upon opening her inventory, her eyes immediately tracked the amount of col she had in her possession. Her smile widened even further. At this rate, her face would be split into two before the end of the day.

At this point in time, Alice had exactly 357, 412 col in her pockets. Considering that she was only in the 5th Floor of Aincrad, she was on pace to accumulate over a million col before reaching the 15th Floor. She didn't think she would even get close to getting this much col this early on in the game, especially since she finished the beta version of the game with just around 180, 000 col. Maybe it's because she had been grinding like a maniac since she learned about her imprisonment within this twisted reality. Also, it wasn't like she did everything by herself…

Speaking of not doing everything by herself, her thoughts suddenly drifted to a certain blond boy. Since the day they joined their guild, she and Eugeo have been…doing a lot of things…together. Whether it was eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner (or even all three sometimes), farming for EXP and col, hunting for special items, or preparing for boss raids, they were always either doing it together or were within the each other's proximity while doing it.

However, despite having spent so much time with him, she couldn't really say that she _knew_ him. After being around the blond boy literally every day for the past two months, it wasn't difficult to see that he was a fully-fledged, hardcore introvert. Given the circumstances, it was not uncommon for players to NOT talk about their personal lives in the _real_ world. Not only was bringing up anything related to the real world painful (because everyone knew that the probability of dying in this game was very high), but opening up to strangers/mere acquaintances was just downright stupid. Still, Eugeo was a different kind of introvert. At least other people, like her fellow guild members for example, were open to small talk. But with Eugeo, she'd be lucky to hold a thirty minute straight conversation with him. In all honesty, she could say that she knew people like Raios and Humbert a little better than she knew Eugeo.

Before she could get carried away by her thoughts (yet again), she remembered what she _really_ came back here for. She turned her gaze to her left and saw a pathway that led to the central plaza area of the settlement. With a determined look on her face, she began walking towards her next objective for the day.

A few minutes later, she arrived in the middle of the Karluin Settlement Plaza. Her eyes locked in on a particular establishment just north of her position.

There stood the only weapon shop in the settlement.

According to an earlier announcement from the game administrators, one of the features brought about by last week's patch was the in-game addition of an extra skill called 'Mug'. 'Mug' was described as a sword skill that infuses its user's attack with the effects of the 'Steal' ability for one hit. It is basically a better and much 'safer' variant of the 'Steal' skill—a skill that allows its user to acquire items from a target monster without dealing damage. Using 'Steal' on an enemy monster would leave the user vulnerable since not only does the usage of the skill take up one full turn, but it also requires the user to perform the skill with his/her empty hand (the hand that he/she does not use to wield his/her weapon). The 'Mug' skill offers a solution to these potentially problematic features, for it provides players the ability to deal damage (in other words, defend themselves by using their weapons) and steal items from an enemy target at the same time, thus shortening the time frame in which players are open to enemy attacks.

The 'Mug' extra skill could be acquired via completing a side quest. In order to begin the said side quest, players must speak to an NPC located in an "alleyway near the 5th Floor weapon shop". Considering that Karluin was the _only_ settlement/town in the current floor that had a weapon shop, the medium-sized, brown colored establishment on her twelve must definitely be the place.

Alice approached the weapon shop and began scanning the area for a path that could possibly lead to an alleyway or a secluded area that would fit the description of the place that the game administrators specified in their announcement. She walked at a slow pace to give herself time to look around. The blonde looked and looked, but all she saw were brown walls. As she continued her search, she began to doubt if such a path even existed.

A few seconds later, the teen came to a halt just outside the shop. Needless to say, she was unsuccessful in efforts. Her brows furrowed. She gave the shop and its adjacent buildings another look over. There _had_ to be an alleyway around here, or at least a pathway that led to one. There was absolutely no reason for the game administrators to mention an area that didn't even exist in the game (even if they were a bunch of sadistic a-holes).

Just then, Alice noticed something. She stared at the tavern-looking building to the left of the weapon shop. Five seconds passed. Then she shifted her gaze to the opposite direction until her gaze landed on the _other_ building adjacent to the weapon shop. Another five seconds passed. Her mind processed all the details she was able to gather. The brown colored establishment of a weapon shop was erected between two other similarly colored structures. There had to be some sort of reason for that, right? Surely, the uniformity in color of the three establishments wasn't coincidental. It was either the game developers got really lazy (since the buildings had the _same exact_ shade of colors), or…

Alice took another long, hard look at the three buildings. This time around, her eyes were able to catch something. On a spot to the right of the weapon shop's entrance, near the edge of the adjacent building, was a crack of some sorts. The blonde approached the gap along the wall, wondering why it was even there in the first place. When the tip of her nose was mere inches away from the wall, she noticed that the crack extended further along surface to the right. With narrowed eyes, she followed the gap along the wall, curious to see where it would end. When she reached the end of the crack, she kept sliding her gaze to the right. She let out a gasp.

There it was.

It was almost impossible to see, but there was a pathway that was disguised as part of the buildings beside it. She lifted a hand and extended it in an attempt to verify that she wasn't just seeing things.

She smiled.

Her hand did not make contact with anything but thin air. That more or less confirmed that the space in front of her was unoccupied…at least not by some sort of wall. She took a step towards the supposed pathway she found. Her smile widened when the underside of her boot landed on the stony surface of the concealed pathway for the first time. She was starting to think that today was just one of _those_ days.

The blonde continued walking along the pathway. As she progressed, she gradually came to understand why this pathway had been so difficult to locate from the get-go. Everything around here was brown in color: the ground, the walls of the proximate buildings, and even the roof above her all had the similar shade of brown. The entire alleyway blended in so well with the walls of the nearby buildings that it seemed like it wasn't even there. She rolled her eyes; no doubt another stupid attempt by the game administrators to make life more difficult for the players.

Alice kept moving along the alleyway. The path eventually required her to make a right turn, and when she did, she spotted what appeared to be a middle-aged man dressed in a white outfit in the distance. What stood out from the man's appearance was the red exclamation point hovering right above his head.

Bingo.

The blonde was barely able to contain her excitement. She jogged to the lone figure's location until a digital window appeared near her face.

' _Tap to interact with NPC'_

Alice did as instructed; with a tap of her finger, she initiated a conversation with the weird-looking NPC. The blonde listened attentively as the NPC articulated its predicament. It took about a minute or so for the NPC to finish the first part of its script, then another window appeared with a message asking if she wanted to formally begin the side quest. She tapped on the _'Yes'_ option and took note of the rest of what the NPC had to say.

A few more minutes passed until the NPC ended the conversation with a "good luck and take care!" sort of blessing. The red exclamation point that was hovering above the computer-controlled character changed into a red question mark in Alice's perspective, indicating that she had successfully acquired and commenced the 'Mug' Side Quest.

She took a minute to go over everything the NPC had just told her regarding the side quest. The supposedly depressed game object wanted her to retrieve a key item (a pendant of some sort that, according to the programmed entity's backstory, possessed sentimental value) from a secret boss called 'Master Shrewman'. Her task was to slay this 'Master Shrewman' and return the key item to the NPC; only then will she receive the skill scroll that will allow her to learn the 'Mug' extra skill. The 'Master Shrewman' boss could be found in the depths of the Karluin Catacombs.

Her temples throbbed.

Well, so much for having a good day.

She absolutely _despised_ the Karluin Catacombs. The place was CRAWLING with 'Sly Shrewmen'. Sly Shrewmen were basically a bunch of creepy-looking humanoid rodents that existed solely for the purpose of looting dropped items. Due to the layout of the catacombs, players were more prone than usual to drop their items by falling from great heights. The catacombs were full of booby-traps designed to make passage difficult; among those traps were the infamous 'cracked ledges' that break off when a player does as much as breathe on them. In the event that a player steps on a cracked ledge, he/she will fall to a deeper, darker, and tougher part of the catacombs. On top of that, the impact the player sustains after his/her fall will cause him/her to drop an item (usually his/her weapon since it is the most exposed item in his/her possession). And that's where the blasted rodents come in; a shrewman will _magically_ appear in the vicinity and use its 'Robbing' skill to effectively transfer the ownership of the dropped item to itself before fleeing, leaving the player without his/her lost item until he/she slays the particular shrewman that ran away with it. It would've been so much easier if the shrewmen weren't the fast little movers that they were.

Needless to say, this side quest was going to be quite task for her.

Another important aspect to note regarding the side quest was party mechanics. According to the NPC she had just spoken to, players who will face the Master Shrewman as a party will have a slight twist to their side quest. In the case of a player party, the key item drop that must be returned to the NPC to complete the side quest will become a Last Attack Bonus Drop. As a result, the party member who finishes off the boss is the **only** player who will receive the key item drop and therefore is the **only player who will be rewarded with the 'Mug' extra skill scroll.** The party must do the side quest multiple times for every member to learn the extra skill. This only provided Alice with another good reason to NOT ask anyone else to tag along.

Alice again accessed her current inventory. She spent the next couple of minutes checking her on-hand items and equipment. The meticulous blonde made sure that she had everything she would/might need—potions, crystals, extra weapons, a spare set of armor and some snacks. Once she finished her inspection, she turned her heels and headed to the catacombs entrance.

Fifteen minutes later, she found herself just outside the cave that leads to the upper areas of the Karluin Catacombs. The very sight of the large opening made her blood run cold. Despite being a beta tester, she wasn't able to go too deep into the catacombs during the beta simply because she didn't have a good reason to have done so at the time. It wasn't like she was the only one either; most beta testers back then actually stayed away from the catacombs because of the various traps that could be found within the area. They were more concerned with trying to go as far as they could in the beta than figuring out how to navigate through a creepy underground tomb. But right now, she didn't have a choice. She needed that extra skill—badly. She heaved a deep sigh to steady herself before proceeding to the underground area.

As she expected, the area wasn't well lit at all. Save for the torches on the side of the walls, there was very little to no source of light, making it difficult for her to see where or what she was even walking on. She took slow, careful, and delicate steps as she advanced deeper into the catacombs. Her senses were also on high alert—her right hand gripped the hilt of her sword, her eyes were on the lookout for anything suspicious, and her ears tracked every bit of sound that it could.

Unfortunately, this _still_ wasn't enough to save her from what was about to happen.

When her toes made contact with the ground, the surface she had been stepping on suddenly collapsed. Alice's heart rate accelerated as she let out a gasp. The realization that she had just stepped on a cracked ledge and was seconds away from a hard fall instantly sent her into a state of panic.

It took her a couple of seconds before she was able to snap out of it. In the blink of an eye, her right hand unsheathed her sword and pointed it downwards to the ground (or whatever she was about to fall on). Her eyes narrowed as she focused; she was going to have to time this perfectly.

As soon as her eyes caught a glimpse of the surface beneath her, she sprang into action. She thrusted her sword to the ground; when she heard the tip bury itself to the rocky surface she maneuvered her body upwards so that all the force she summoned was concentrated on her back. In the middle of her body movement, her somehow ears picked up what sounded like a squeak from just ahead of her. She heaved her back forward, her hand still gripping the hilt of her sword, and when she reached the midpoint of her move, she used her legs to drag her body downwards to complete a perfect forward cartwheel. Just before her feet landed on the ground, she pulled her sword out of the ground, brought it up and performed a downward slash all in one swift, graceful motion. Her sword made contact with the being in front of her the exact second her feet landed.

A squeak of pain rang through the air shortly after, indicating that the creature in front of her had met its end. She rose to her feet and sure enough, there was a digital window in front of her indicating the amount of EXP and col she had just earned.

She breathed out a sigh of relief. It appeared that she had to be _even more_ careful moving forward. This place had definitely changed since the beta.

Before she could do anything else, she heard another sound go off not too far ahead of her. The blonde got into a fighting stance and tightened her grip on her sword. She slowly moved forward, wanting nothing more than to deal with whatever it is that lies ahead.

Seconds later, she heard…footsteps? It didn't seem like it came from an animal or a monster; in fact, it seemed like the sound was produced by…a human? Or maybe a humanoid?

The sound became louder and more frequent. She raised her sword a little so that it would be easier for her to execute a sword skill just in case.

"Calm down, I'm not a monster. I'm just another player" a familiar voice stated. There was no doubt that the voice came from a few meters just ahead of her.

Alice didn't trust the source of the mysterious voice though. For all she knew, it could be a trap. The game admins were very creative when it came to getting players killed after all. She narrowed her eyes and prepared to charge forward.

Just before she could go on the offensive, the source of the oddly-familiar voice stepped forth to reveal an individual whom she recognized almost immediately. There stood a young man just about her age, pale complexion, all black attire, gray sword, and shimmering black eyes. The young man's hands were raised as if trying to show her that he intended to do her no harm. He also wore a timid expression in an attempt to be as harmless as he could possibly look.

Her breath caught in her throat. It's been quite a while…

"K-Kirito?"

 **A/N: There you have it folks! I'm sorry if this chapter sucks; I'm really rusty. I haven't written anything since I last updated this story lol. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed. The next chapter will be a continuation of this one and will focus on how Alice and Kirito will take down the Master Shrewman to earn the Mug extra skill. I have to admit, it was really difficult to write this chapter given the fact that I know very little about how the Karluin Settlement and the 5** **th** **Floor look like. I just tried making things up; I based the appearance of the 5** **th** **Floor on the previous floors (specifically the 4** **th** **Floor). So, yeah, like I said, more Alice and Kirito time next chapter. I decided to end the chapter here since I wanted to fill you guys in on what's happened since the last chapter when the characters were on the 2** **nd** **Floor. I tried to use this chapter as an explanatory chapter to help you guys understand how things are looking like for our characters, especially Alice. Well, that's all for now. Please leave feedback by reviewing or sending me a PM. I really appreciate your comments and they are what motivate me. Thank you and have a nice day!**


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